Logie and Mather triump in marathon challenge

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On a course that many described as the toughest in Australia, a touch of luck and impressive technical helped Tasmania's Ben Mather and Canberra's Heather Logie reign supreme at the 2010 Nemisis Australian Mountain Bike Marathon Championships in Avoca.

A last minute entry into the event, Mather made a bold move to go out hard from the outset and looked too strong for the remainder of the field in the early stages of the race.

Winning the King of the Mountain on the first climb and extending his lead to over three minutes at the half way point, Mather looked to have the race sewn up.

A first time rider on the course, the 28-year-old looked to his road cycling experience to put him ahead of the pack. "I went out from the gun up the first hill and took the King of the Mountain. I didn't realise I had the form but I thought I would just keep going and see how it panned out," Mather said.

"I hadn't been here before to have a look at the course. But listening to a few of the guys, they knew it was harder than a lot of the other courses, so I thought I was in for a tough one.

"They also mentioned that there was a lot of gravel road. I tend to go alright on the gravel tracks, so I went out hard knowing that whatever time I could get up on them on the road makes it harder for them to bring back in the hills."

But as predicted the hills became a sticking point for Mather. The Tasmanian resorted to travel by foot in sections of the final 40km, providing the chance for Sydney's Peter Hatton to take the lead.

After pushing out to a three-minute lead and approaching on 90km over an agonizing four hours, a cruel twist of fate saw Hatton suffer a flat tyre on the final descent which him the victory.

Fighting all the way, Mather recovered to finish the eventual winner in a time of four hours, 40 minutes and 58 seconds . Hatton held on to finish second (4:44:09) ahead of 2006 world 24-hour solo champion Craig Gordon (4:44:25).

"Peter (Hatton) caught me at the 60km mark and by the last feed station he had put about two or three minutes into me," Mather said. "I got lucky, Peter got a flat tyre coming down the last big descent.

"He probably deserved to win, but that is the luck of the draw with mountain biking. I have had my fair share of bad luck, so it's great to have a little bit of good luck my way."

In the women's event, after working out to a considerable lead in the first half of the race, Logie held off a mid-race challenge from Sydney's Jenny Fay to take out the national championship in five hours, 53 minutes and 41 seconds. Queensland's Jodie Willett fought on to finish second (5:57:23), with Fay the eventual third place getter (6:13:08).

Defying her expectations and an aching body, an impressive display of technical skill helped an ecstatic Logie to victory.

"This was one of the toughest 100km races I have ever done," the 31-year-old said.

"It started getting steep and sketchy and all I could think was that there was a lot more of the same to come and I needed to save something. It didn't feel like there was much in the legs and I was in the suffer box for a while there.

"I had Jenny Fay making me work really hard during the middle stages of the race. She was incredibly strong, really impressive on the hills and motoring on. For a while there I thought it was hers to be honest.

"I am so excited with myself because I think today it was a bit of technical skill that bridge the gap which for me is unheard of. There was a section of single track where I dropped her and I didn't see her again."

The event doubled as the 2010 Nemisis Marathon Challenge, a mass participation event that saw over 600 riders take on the 93km, 45km, 33km and 15km course options.

Each of the riders wore rainbow shoelaces on their shoes, helmets and wrists in memory of former 24-hour solo World Champion James Williamson, who passed away in South Africa last month and in support of his chosen charity Zaidee's Rainbow Foundation which promotes organ and tissue donation awareness.

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