Racers up before the sun for a third day of fun

Riders had an early start to Day 3 of the Mountains To Beach with Stage 7, The Dawn Raid commencing at 5:15 am. The Raid covered a 26km loop of Lakeside track around beautiful Lake Eucumbene at Buckenderra Resort.

The first lap was completed in darkness with the lead riders providing a guiding light to those following. The second loop saw a spectacular sunrise greet the riders with mist hanging over the lake waters. At race end, all enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before cruising the 40km to Cooma.

Andrew Fellows beat current overall leader Jason English by just 30 seconds in a time of 1:03:32. Andy Blair wasn't going to forego his overall second place, coming in 36 seconds later in 1:04:38.

While today's win doesn't change the overall placings, Fellows' stage win helped him reduce the deficit to Blair to just three and half minutes. English is still more than seven minutes ahead of Blair.

English's overall time for the 206km covered to date is 6:07:30. Blair has taken 6:15:15 with Fellows completing the distance in 6:18:44.

Megan Dimozantos was again in the women's winner's circle, finishing the course in 1:26:36. Belinda Porter was second, one and half minutes later on 1:28:05, with Clare Lonergan again finishing third on 1:29:45 a further one minute and 40 seconds behind.

This morning's win helped Dimozantos extend her overall lead on Porter by almost 13 minutes with a total time of 8:23:39. Dimozantos overall time is 8:36:36, more than 22 minutes ahead of Clare Lonergan in 8:58:41.

After today's early start, riders had a half day to relax and recharge their batteries in Cooma in preparation for the 89km Big Day Out tomorrow. This sees  competitors leave the relative cool of the mountains and head down the escarpment to Yowrie, through some of the best temperate forest the area has to offer.

Not all goes down with the big test being to see who can be the first Mountains To Beach rider to ride the incredibly steep climb up Numeralla Mountain.

From Yowrie it's a 41km cruise stage to Bermagui, where riders will spend the night, ahead of the final day.

Full Results