Chase the Sun MTB Enduro #3 2007

Sunday morning on the 1st of July at 9.30am saw the kick off of the 3rd Chase the Sun Mountain Bike Enduro race. It was a chilly 10 degrees at race start and the thermometer didn’t raise much from there. 220 racers joined Chris Neenan at the start line. Some 350 riders would ride the very muddy 11.7kms track at Lysterfield. The Kodak team were out to better their 7th position at the last Chase the Sun race and at 1pm they were on track running in 5th place. All eyes were on the timing sheets from then on. Knowing they were in 5th place and only 4 minutes away from 3rd they were putting everything into catching the teams ahead of them. Tim Harman went out at 2.15pm for the teams last lap. Chris and Tim did a quick interchange but the team was 10 minutes down from 3rd at the 2 o’clock mark so Chris and Tim’s laps would have to be extremely quick. Unfortunately the team never managed to catch the teams in front of them but they did a fantastic job to get 5th place and ended up only 9 minutes from 3rd place after 5 hours of racing.

Chris looking fresh before the start

Race start

Chris about to go out for his second lap. He isn't looking quite as fresh now.

Chris warming up before heading out

Bill Woolmore about to head out. This is only Bill's second MTB race ever,

and his lap times are only minutes behind Tim and Chris'.

Bill giving his all, trying to catch the teams ahead of them

Bill coming down the straight just before his change over to Chris

The change over

Tim out on the last lap, pushing hard

Tim coming down the final straight for the last time

Chris about half through his lap

Tim concentrating hard. Before he changed to wet weather tyres he was having trouble staying upright.

Chris making his way through the muddy track

Tim still putting his all into trying to make up time