2017 Monaro Cloudride winner!

Steve Fitchett is our 2017 Cloudride winner making a return to mountain bike racing and making his debut in the bikepacking discipline. Steve has been a past National 24h Solo SS Champion and came through in the closing day to catch Jess Douglas and forge away from runner-up Matt Turner. Jess unfortunately crashed out on the last night [wombat suspect] and was taken to Cooma Hospital for observation and unable to continue. Jess is recovering well and we hope she will soon be back on the bike.

Matt Turner rode in the lead group for most of the 1000k and although under some stress in the closing hours as fuel [food] reserves and fatigue drained his energy levels he hung on to keep third placed

Adam Nicholson from Darwin at bay. Matt finished in 4d:11h:11m with

Adam riding late into the early morning hours finishing in 4d:16h:39m.

Our final Cloudrider for 2017 Jo Marden arrived back in Canberra this morning for a ride time of 11d:3h:37m. Tenacious riding by Jo showing great grit and determination to get the job done. With eleven finishers, including the two March ITT riders Pete Salakas and Anton Iassenev, the 50% completion result is about right on average for this style of racing. Congratulations to all finishers and also to those who started and gave it a go … sometimes interventions from injury, mechanicals and fatigue make it impossible to continue. Everyone will be the richer for the experience and for stepping outside their normal comfort zone weather racing hard or simply pushing on one day at a time in survival mode. Matt Turner has generously written a report on his ride and I will publish this as a separate post. Matt digs deep into his personal experience and articulates an honesty about his head space and along the way distilling from the fog of fatigue with some clarity the things in our lives that matter. Finally a special mention to all those known/unknown dot watchers, trail angels, roadside cheer squads and refuel station staff [Delegate, Cabramurra, Bombala, Nimmitabel et al] who support the riders on this journey … you supply a huge part of the fuel, practical and emotional, that fires the furnace. It gets cold and lonely out there and the moments of human contact and support are a rich part of the glue that holds them together when the going gets tough. Chapeau! 2017 Monaro Cloudride Finishers Steve Fitchett 46 Evatt ACT 4d:01h:42m Matt Turner 41 Kingston Vic 4d:11h:11m Adam Nicholson 37 Darwin NT 4d:16h:39m Mark Gibbens 53 Athelstone SA 5d:01h:19m Trevor Fairhurst 47 Ainslie ACT 5d:10h:13m Jeroen Jedeloo 42 Manly Vale NSW 7d:08h:49m Dan Oakman 44 Downer ACT 8d:11h:03m Joannne Marden 46 Dungog NSW 11d:3h:37m Support assistance [replaced bike] Mark Simpson 49 Fisher ACT 6d:4h:59m ITT [March 2017] Peter Salakas 31 Carlton NSW 6d:11h:58m Anton Iassenev 30 Bonnet Bay NSW 6d:11h:58m

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