Jongewaard and Mullens celebrate at Otway Odyssey

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South Australian Chris Jongewaard battled mud sodden trails and a recent concussion to emphatically register his third Otway Odyssey Mountain Bike Marathon title.

Jongewaard crossed the line six minutes ahead of Ben Mather, having fended off repeated attacks as the pair muscled through 100 kilometres of rain-lashed wilderness. 24-Hour Solo World Champion Jason English took a close-run third, a mere half minute further back from Mathers. Last year’s winner Adrian Jackson came home fifth behind Lachlan Norris, an early favourite who overcame mechanical problems to remain in the top Five.

Jongewaard’s win is all the more impressive given the revelation that he knocked himself out riding trails on a new dual suspension bike in his home state only last weekend.

“I had concussion for three days,” said Jongewaard, who admitted to still being a “little cloudy in the head” at the start line.

“I wasn’t feeling great early on; I just didn’t have my usual confidence. Lachie Norris was going hard and broke away early. I just kept on his wheels and hung on. Once I got the lead back, I just concentrated on blocking any attacks. Unfortunately for Lachie his chain broke. If that hadn’t have happened I think it would have been a much tighter battle all the way today.”

While Jongewaard seemed to be in cruise mode having stretched his lead of Mathers in the latter stages, the cross country national series leader reckons he was hurting all the same. “I could feel the wall coming, so I just concentrated on staving it off. The [final climb of the] Sledgehammer still got me, though. I tried to tell myself it would be rideable - I got 50 metres in before I was off the bike.”

Jongewaard rates this, his third win at Forrest, as a huge mental boost as he heads to the National Championships next weekend with visions of the Olympics (London 2012) beyond that.

“I’ve been given leave (under parole conditions) to travel interstate, so I’m hoping the powers that be – so long as I keep performing as well as I have been – see that this is my job and perhaps I’ll be able to travel to compete internationally. We’ll see – but the win certainly gives me confidence going into the Nationals in Adelaide next weekend.”

Second-placed Ben Mathers was happy with his podium, and acknowledged that Jongewaard’s strength on the descent was a game changer.

“He was just super strong on the singletrack and the timed descent. I just couldn’t go with him. From then on I was just trying to make sure I held ground on the guys behind me, which thankfully I managed to do. I would have been happy with a top ten, so I’m wrapped with second place.”

Protest and heartbreak in women’s elite standings

It was a case of jubilation and then tears in the women’s elite field when U23 national champion Gracie Elvin crossed the line first only to discover she had been handed a 30-minute time penalty by race officials for a rule-breaking indiscretion.

Elvin overcame crippling cramp at the 80-kilometre mark to hold off Peta Mullens by nearly five minutes. It was ultimately to no avail, however, as her time penalty relegated her result from a win - “possibly the biggest of my life,” said Elvin before learning of her penalty – to a sixth placing.

The ruling caused Peta Mullens to move up a place on the dais to take the official race title and $4,000 prize money, with Jo Wall elevated to second place, coming in less than a minute behind Mullens’ 5:51:53 time. Rebecca Locke took the official third place in 6:08:19.

Elvin, who like Jongewaard has her sights set on the National Championships and the London Olympics in 2012, was visibly upset at the decision, taken after she took a hydration pack from crew while on the course, which she did not realise was against race rules.

The race directors were sympathetic to Elvin’s case but determined that as a professional she should have known the rules.

“Gracie had a brilliant ride, no doubt,” says Rapid Ascent’s Sam Maffett. “But we’ve had complaints from competitors in the past years about riders gaining assistance on the course, so we made it perfectly clear in all rider briefing information that such assistance outside of the designated area at Forrest Football Ground was against the rules.

“Having been made aware of the situation, it would be unfair on other riders not to follow through on a penalty for a broken rule – even if that transgression was made unawares by a competitor. We applaud her for crossing the line first and respect her for the talent that she clearly has. Hopefully she will accept the decision gracefully and return next year to have another crack – she’s a champion rider and we’d welcome her back to prove herself again.”

The Otway Odyssey lived up to its name in the minds of the 1700-strong field, with 15km, 50km and 100km category riders all facing wet, slippery and muddy conditions on the trails surrounding the township of Forrest in Victoria’s south west. Riders crossed the line smiling with mud-caked faces and limbs, and only the odd broken collarbone, injured ankle or claret-tinged body part, all just grist for the storytelling mill come tomorrow.

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