Adam Wilson | Greybox Images

Blair and Cuthbert take out Snowies Mountain Bike Festival titles…

Former 2-time national XCM champion, Commonwealth Games representative, and winner of the inaugural Snowies MTB Festival in 2015, Andy Blair (The Cyclery- Specialized) has won a hard fought battle across five stages to reclaim his Snowy Mountains crown in 2018 while Zoe Cuthbert (Trek Shimano Australia) at just 17 years of age, has taken out the Elite Women’s Crown.

The Snowies Mountain Bike Festival hosted at Lake Crackenback Resort & Spa & Thredbo Resort in the iconic Snowy Mountains of New South Wales challenged riders with five stages across three-days with some of the most challenging and diverse riding found anywhere in Australia.

With two stage wins each under their belt it was Blair and young gun Jayden Ward (Stelf Cycling Team) who came into Stage 5 with everything to race for in the men’s GC.  Ward held a 40sec lead over Blair with Toby Stewart (Phoenix Cycling) in third 6:35 off the pace.  With that scenario it was always going to be a battle of the titans in Stage 5 ‘Release the Cracken Marathon’.  With riders neck and neck on laps 1 and 2, Blair had to dig deep in the final lap to take the stage win in 1:51:34, 1:29 ahead of Ward with Stewart in third.

Catching up with Blair after the race his philosophy as he headed into stage 5 was “Don’t give up til it’s over.   I had 40 secs to find somewhere, I wasn’t super confident but I’ve done enough races to know that anything can happen.  I just put my head down on the last lap and just left it all out there and finished completely empty.”

Blair was “very happy to take out the win.  It was a tough battle with Jayden and Toby that ended up coming down to the last stage so I definitely had to work hard for it but it is all the more satisfying. I’m looking forward to coming back again next year.”

In the female GC race Peta Mullens (Focus Attaquer) came into the race carrying a heavy cold and heading into stage 5 it was anybody’s title with Cuthbert and Mullens each having two stage wins under their belt.  There was just 4 seconds separating the two and Swiss legend Renata Bucher (Aloha Racing) was not far behind in third.  Bucher demonstrated some of the hard grit and determination that she is famous for in stage 5 and pulled back a mighty win, 5 seconds ahead of Cuthbert.  Despite the second place, Cuthbert’s time of 2:07:57, which was 11 seconds ahead of closest rival Mullens, was enough to hold onto the overall win in the GC with a lead of 15 seconds.

This is my first elite win, so it’s pretty special and memorable.” said Cuthbert. “Coming into the race I had no idea, I really surprised myself.  It’s been a wonderful experience.  I tried my hardest and it worked.”

Source
In2Adventure

 

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