Otway Odyssey

THOUSANDs or riders descended on Forrest for an action-packed weekend of bike racing at Otway Odyssey.

Peta Mullens and Jay Vine clinched King and Queen of the Otways titles in the 12th edition of the Otway Odyssey and Great Otway Gravel Grind (GOGG).

The events, presented by Focus, confirmed their status as one of Australia’s greatest and most challenging off-road bike races, with over 1,400 riders from across Australia and overseas travelling to Forrest to compete on the weekend.

The atmosphere was electric as competitors from the recreational to the elite raced across the famed single-track and smooth rolling dirt roads of the Otway Ranges in six races of varying distances.

Mild temperatures and light showers from Friday to Sunday settled the dust and made the courses fast and the racing exciting.

The weekend champions taking the King and Queen of the Otways titles, as fastest overall across the two premier long-distance races were Peta Mullens and Jay Vine.

Mullens, a former Australian Road Cyclist Champion and current professional rider, claimed a history-making fifth victory at the renowned 100km Otway Odyssey MTB Marathon on Saturday, then clinched her second GOGG victory in a time of three hours, 42 minutes, and three seconds.

By winning both the 100km mountain bike marathon on Saturday and the gravel grind on Sunday, Mullens successfully defended her title of Queen of the Otways.

“This is very much a surprise,” Mullens said.

“It was super exciting racing, and good camaraderie by everybody out on the track; the support the whole weekend as a competitor was really great, I’m surprised and very happy; it’s good to be back!”

It was tight racing in the men’s field on Sunday throughout the race with the lead pack of seven riders entering and exiting each time-out zone together and crossing the finish line in quick succession.

Chris Jongewaard of Adelaide managed to hold onto a puncture for the last four kilometres, ultimately finding himself as runner-up to Vine (3:09:30) just 21 seconds behind (3:09:51), after time in the transitions were tabulated. In third place overall was Ryan Standish one minute later (3:10:52).

“I was struggling for about five or 10 minutes there early on, the bunch punching me all the way to the first time-out, so I was actually looking forward to that first transition,” Vine said from the podium.

“I was thinking something was going to come up this weekend. Yesterday, was probably for the glory, and today was just a glorious ride, you’ve dropped onto to the beach, and 90kms of this with mates; it was just amazing. Thanks for putting on a great event and I’ll definitely be back next year.”

Vine’s lowest cumulative times over the two days of racing meant he clinched the King of the Otways crown.

Full results are available at bit.ly/2GJopn9.