WOCK Bob Barb finishing his second lap on Saturday evening.

After 24hrs, 12mins and 23secs of numb bums, axle-deep mud, rocks, logs, dodging pine trees and trying to see the bunyips, the 'Go Navy' team finished 3rd overall in the corporate teams category of the Australian 24-Hour Mountain Bike Race at Stromlo in the ACT on the weekend of October 21-22.

Of the government teams, Navy placed 1st and beat RAAF (5th overall) by two laps and 41 minutes (= approx 45km). Army didn't enter a team. Dept of Finance and Administration was 3rd of the government teams (7th overall).

There were 600 entrants and 1800 spectators in this event, excellently organised by the Canberra Off Road Cyclists Club. Thanks also to LCDR Kellie Robson and MIDN Scott Reynolds who made up the Navy support crew.

The course consisted of 16.7km laps through the Stromlo pine forest on dirt fire trails and narrow single tracks. It included about 250m of climbing.

Background

Navy put a team of 10 Canberra-based personnel in the event. There were more than 600 entrants in the race, in a variety of categories from individuals up to 10-man teams.

A portion of the entrance fees was donated to the South Care Helicopter Ambulance Service.

Fifty millimetres of rain on the Wednesday before the race made some sections of the course very soft and it was not uncommon to have your wheels, feet and pedals suddenly sink into 20cm of mud. When some of the team members did a practice ride two days before the race, the Molonglo River had risen to cover some sections with 50cm of flowing water. Fortunately, this area had dried out by race day.

The race format was most laps in 24 hours wins. If teams were on the same number of laps, then it was who got in first after the 1200 Sunday race stop time.

The 'Go Navy' team was made up of a mixture of male/female and uniform/civilian. Ranks (for uniform personnel), names, number of laps completed and average lap times are shown below.

Rider Rank	Rider Name	Laps	Av Lap Time
CAPT	Russell Baker	5	0:59:21
	Jason Baeck	4	0:54:39
POMT	Nicholas Braden	4	0:59:49
CMDR	Neil Wark	3	0:57:56
WOCK	Bob Barb	2	0:48:10
	Gordon Holgate	2	0:48:52
	Doug Steele	2	1:05:54
CMDR	Neil Cass	1	1:04:22
CMDR	Rod Harrod	1	1:05:39
CAPT	Jenny Firman	1	1:08:07

After the Le-Mans style start, which saw 150 competitors race 400m through the forest to get to their bikes ("I took up bike riding 'cause I can't run" was a frequent comment), the real exciting bit of the race was at night.

Trying to race downhill through a dark, winding single track - with a couple of headlights, low hanging pine trees, other competitors and the occasional yowie to keep you company certainly gets the adrenalin going.

Sharing the 'night-rider' duties were Jason Baeck, Niel Wark, Russ Baker and Nick Braden.

Bob Barb and Gordon Holgate put in two fast laps each and Jason Baeck also got in one very quick lap of 46:35 before it got dark. The race record for a lap was 39:37.

Canberra Off Road Cyclists president Dave White is to be congratulated for organising an excellent event. The support in the camping area was outstanding, with the food tent, massage tent and the repairs tent all doing good business.