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.
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.
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Fellows | 3:19:03 |
| 2 | Bart Hickson | 0:28:27 |
| 3 | Kevin Mullins | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| 4 | Sean Bekkers | 0:32:45 |
| 5 | Scott Pomroy | 0:42:06 |
| 6 | Cameron Godwin | 0:52:19 |
| 7 | Matthew Norton | 0:56:06 |
| 8 | Jayson Connacher | 1:06:01 |
| 9 | Bud Chapple | 1:12:54 |
| 10 | Ben Howarth | 1:19:47 |
| 11 | Michael Williams | 1:46:57 |
| 12 | Brady Espeland | 1:50:33 |
| 13 | David Lambert | 1:56:45 |
| 14 | Damien Pearson | 1:56:48 |
| 15 | David Reid | 2:00:35 |
| 16 | Richard Harbury | 2:02:03 |
| 17 | Tony Curtis | 2:05:46 |
| 18 | Td Phan | 2:20:06 |
| 19 | Simon Roberts | 2:21:59 |
| 20 | Ray Overdijk | 2:26:03 |
| 21 | Michael Di Bari | 2:42:42 |
| 22 | Jamon Pool | 3:25:27 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meg Carrigan | 4:24:25 |
| 2 | Belinda Porter | 0:13:44 |
| 3 | Kathryn Cox | 0:43:25 |
| 4 | Helen Dorsett | 0:46:40 |
| 5 | Joanna Battersby | 0:51:24 |
| 6 | Emily Garland | 0:55:14 |
| 7 | Lauren Rennick | 1:40:18 |
| 8 | Melissa Backhouse | 2:23:37 |
| 9 | Amy Bainbridge | 2:23:45 |
| 10 | Nicole Barwick | 2:33:23 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garry James | 3:39:13 |
| 2 | David Harris | 0:11:55 |
| 3 | Jeff Rooney | 0:15:37 |
| 4 | Lloyd Newell | 0:22:33 |
| 5 | Richard Peil | 0:25:54 |
| 6 | Jason Kaul | 0:27:43 |
| 7 | Russell Ford | 0:39:48 |
| 8 | Anthony Manning | 0:46:17 |
| 9 | Scott Rasmussen | 0:59:06 |
| 10 | Robert Lecons | 0:59:38 |
| 11 | Gregor Riese | 1:11:43 |
| 12 | Peter Waldron | 1:12:06 |
| 13 | Bill Taylor | 1:13:12 |
| 14 | Bruce Perry | 1:13:36 |
| 15 | Mark Drury | 1:17:06 |
| 16 | Mike Ford | 1:18:37 |
| 17 | Scott Chadwick | 1:22:55 |
| 18 | Matthew Perry | 1:31:06 |
| 19 | Xavier Poirier | 1:36:22 |
| 20 | Chris Wilson | 1:38:07 |
| 21 | Greg Shepherd | 1:38:29 |
| 22 | Andrew Bain | 1:40:49 |
| 23 | Gerard Rennick | 1:41:39 |
| 24 | Stephen Champion | 1:45:01 |
| 25 | Graham Bothma | 1:48:29 |
| 26 | Andrew Smith | 2:03:01 |
| 27 | Joseph Benjamin | 2:06:53 |
| 28 | Peter Haley | 2:25:34 |
| 29 | Alex Bramford | 3:05:18 |
| 30 | Justin Flood | 3:30:25 |
| 31 | Jason Hikawai | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
| 32 | Martin Fuller | 3:30:26 |
| DNF | Glen Garside | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Jeff Macdonald | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Brunner?Evans | 4:35:05 |
| 2 | Nikolai Stahl | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| 3 | Malcolm Lynn | 0:00:53 |
| 4 | Colin Boyd | 0:22:29 |
| 5 | Steve Barrett | 0:32:54 |
| 6 | Paul Smith | 0:32:55 |
| 7 | Geoffrey Clarke | 0:38:06 |
| 8 | Philip Mcfarland | 0:43:08 |
| 9 | Peter Fox | 0:52:39 |
| 10 | Nic Carter | 0:56:54 |
| 11 | Richard Pullinger | 1:40:20 |
| 12 | John Grimble | 1:56:56 |
| 13 | Trevor Ricardo | 2:01:26 |
| 14 | David Owen | 2:25:30 |
| DNS | John Bonnett | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reinhard Mauch | 4:53:49 |
| 2 | Bianca Mauch | 0:00:01 |
| 3 | John Scambary | 0:10:01 |
| 4 | Rod Tracey | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| 5 | John Boakes | 0:11:28 |
| 6 | Craig Elgie | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
| 7 | George Atkinson | 0:31:48 |
| 8 | David Sumich | 0:32:16 |
| 9 | Ken Mann | 0:43:59 |
| 10 | Bruce Pain | 0:44:00 |
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