Defence

Sport Special

Defence riders dust up to keep fit

By Major Andrew Cassie

More than 200 Defence mountain bikers recently congregated in Canberra to torture themselves for 24 hours in hot and dusty conditions over rutted and disintegrating tracks all over Kowen Forest. Over the weekend of 7-8 October they competed against 3100 other riders in the largest 24-hour mountain bike (MTB) race in the world. Always at the fore, Defence personnel have been involved in the Australian 24-hour MTB Championships competing and assisting at all levels since the first event in 1999. This year there were more Defence personnel riding than the total number of riders in the first 24-hour event when, coincidentally, the organisers and race director were Defence members.

For the uninitiated, a 24-hour MTB race is just that. For 24 hours solo riders and riders in teams of two, three, four, six and 10 compete to see who can complete the most laps of a 20km cross country circuit. The age, gender, team size and school categories make for many races within races as riders circulate a twisty and undulating track (very dusty in 2006) to see who is going to become crowned the Australian Champion. They continue into the night with lights on bikes and helmets to push the individual and team lap counts higher. During this mayhem, uniformed and civilian Defence members were fighting for the Defence and Service Endurance MTB Championships. Army won the inaugural championship in 2005 but, this year, Navy put in a determined effort with riders coming from as far as HMAS Stirling and HMAS Cairns to ensure Navy laid claim to the title of Service Champions.

The 3100 competitors completed 11 867 laps in the 24 hours or 241 019km - enough for almost 10 circumnavigations of the globe. The winning solo rider completed 22 laps, nearly 450km in the 24 hours, and the best team completed 26 laps, well over 500km. Next year should see the Australian Public Service (APS) competing on equal footing - so watch out you guys in uniform!

As the APS sport policy was changed only recently, there was little time to organise an APS team, but APS members were able to compete for the Defence Individual Championship and for other prize categories. The most sought after sponsor's prize had to be the Rockshox Tora suspension forks for the fastest Defence lap. Mr Nathan Rickerby (CIOG) won the forks with a scorching lap of 55 minutes and 57 seconds. That lap time was only a few minutes behind the professional riders' fastest laps.

There were many excellent individual efforts on the day and many Defence cyclists walked away proud of their efforts against the best in Australia. Next year the Australian 24-hour MTB Championships will see Navy, Army, Air Force and the APS competing for the Defence Championships. Cycling in general, and MTB in particular, has long been recognised as an excellent tool to maintain general fitness and there is only a short step to competing at all levels (fun through to professional). With the Secretary and Chief of the Defence Force wanting to emphasise sport as a key component to promoting work-life balance, the policy was recently changed to allow all APS members to compete at all levels. The policy document, DI(G) PERS 14-2, is still to be re-issued to reflect the change but one thing is for sure - keen competition for the Defence Endurance MTB Championships in 2007. The 2007 event will again be run in Canberra with a venue switch to the exciting new course being built at Mt Stromlo to replace that decimated by the 2003 fires. For further information about the 2007 Championships, contact Major Andrew Cassie at: andrew.cassie@defence.gov.au or visit www.corc.asn.au or for Defence participation.

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