Johnston and McConnell win Otway Odyssey

THIS year’s Otway Odyssey MTB Marathon was dominated by the nation’s top riders on Saturday.

The event has continually attracted Australia’s best mountain bike riders to Forrest over the past 15 years, and 2022 was a showcase of quality riding by Melbourne to Warrnambool winner Brendan “Trekky” Johnston and Australian National MTB champion Bec McConnell, who won their respective 100km races.

Johnston clocked a time of 4.38:39 ahead of National Criterium champion Cam Ivory in second place (4.40:16) and Sam Fox in third (4.42:27), in a day of challenges on the tough trails of the Otways.

The bets were on for who was going to break away and take the win among the top three male riders; with Johnston pulling the win after an explosive attack up the Sledgehammer.

“To be the honest I wasn’t sure what I had today, so I sat back initially and let the others do everything,” Johnston said.

“I cramped a lot and l thought I’ll just let them go, I’ll be happy with third; but then they started to sit up! So I thought, do I go now? I have one shot here … and I don’t know what happened but I just got away.”

In the women’s race, reigning national champion and Olympic representative Bec McConnell powered through unchallenged to the finish line with a big day up front solo after pulling away at the 10km mark.

“I am really happy with that race,” McConnell said.

“Everything went really smoothly and it’s nice to know that the homework is paying off. I had a really good time out there despite being super lonely from about the 10km mark, but it was a good day out.

“Last year I was surprised just how hard the Odyssey was, so this year my level of expectation on pure suffering was at a maximum. Anyone who gets through any of these Odyssey courses is absolutely incredible.”

McConnell posted a winning time of 5.28:03, ahead of Peta Mullens in 5.34:46, and third-placed Courtney Sherwell in 5.41:17.

The 50km Otway Shorty event, held simultaneously with the 100km race, was won by 18-year-old emerging talent Angus Neaves in 2.23:48; with Scott Needham in second place (2.27:15) and Sam Walcher in third (2.28:04).

The Great Otway Gravel Grind, held on Sunday, attracted a record field of more than 600 riders to its 97km and 47km courses.

Getting to the first time-out zone of the 97km course seemed to be the trick to staying at the pointy end of the field which saw riders Tasman Nankervis for the men and Courtney Sherwell for the women executing race tactics throughout the course to take the wins.

Official results take into account these ‘luxury’ time-out zones, resulting in Nankervis taking out the men’s win in a collective overall time of 3:46:38, ahead of Griffin Knight (3:47:08) and third Matthew Bird (3.47:08).

For the women, Sherwell backed up heir third place in the Otway Odyssey with a win, finishing the race in a time of 3.37:52, with Kate Kellett second in 3.46:25 and Liz Taylor in third place overall in 3.54:47.

For full results and more information, head to the Otway Odyssey and Great Otway Gravel Grind websites.