Fellows win stage and extends overall lead

On day 2, racers covered 80km through in almost perfect weather. The morning started with a sedate cruise up Ski Tube underground railway, for the ride through the mountain to Perisher ski resort and then it was serious business.

Climbing up from Perisher towards Guthega, riders got a taste of mountain weather on the Main Range, with rain squalls and 60km/h headwinds. Soon though the sun shone through and the wind came upon their backs as riders followed fire trails and dirt roads to the Snowy River and up over to the vast Snowy Plains. It was then a long climb up Nimmo Hill and on through to the shores of Lake Eucumbene at Buckenderra Resort.

The scenery obviously wasn't a distraction for Andrew Fellows who beat Garry James by 20 minutes and 10 seconds. Fellows completed the 80km course in 3:19:03, with James clocking in at 3:39:13. Hickson was a further eight minutes and 17 seconds behind, finishing third in 3:47:30.

With today's win, Fellows increased his overall lead increase to 30 minutes and 32 seconds with a total time of 5:11:39. James is second overall with a total time of 5:42:11, closely followed by Hickson with a total time of 5:52:44.

In the women's race, Bianca Mauch lost her first place overall to Meg Carrigan. Carrigan came home in 4:24:25, with Belinda Porter in second, 13 minutes and 44 seconds behind with a finishing time of 4:38:09. Mauch was third in 4:53:50.

Carrigan now leads the overall by 15 minutes and 54 seconds with an overall time of 6:50:51, with Porter second overall in 7:06:45. Mauch is in third place overall with 7:17:11.

After the today's long stage, riders will be up very early tomorrow for the Dawn Raid. Starting at 5:15 am, they will complete two laps of a course around Buckenderra in a 26km lakeside race into the sunrise and onto a well-earned breakfast.

Riders will then cruise into Cooma for an early stop before tackling another stage on Thursday - 130km down the escarpment to Bermagui.

Full Results