Grandstand Finish at the Sunshine Coast MTB Festival

SUNSHINE COAST – The Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Festival featured an irresistibly close contest between eventual winner Brodie Gardner and the ultimate challenger Paul Davies.

Gardener, a consistent performer on the Australian off-road circuit, had the gauntlet handed down to him by a first-time mountain bike racer in Davies.

And while the former maintained a lead after each of the five laps of the 47.5km event, the rookie lost no friends, in a performance to savour.

Gardner led Davies after the first lap by a quarter of a second, and then led after the second lap by just over half a second.

The third lap saw Gardener break away to a more than 8-second gap, but then Davies fought back in lap 4, to narrow the deficit to a little under a second.

The conclusion of the fifth and final lap saw a grandstand finish, with Gardner hitting the home straight and Davies trying to chase him up the incline, towards the finish line.

The pursuit was to no ultimate avail, with Gardener hitting the line a mere 3.5 seconds clear of Davies.

It was a battle of technique versus brute force, with subtlety winning out over strength.

“I knew I’d be better technically than Paul, so I just had to maintain consistency, and take my chances when they came,” Gardener said.

While Davies agreed that, “Brodie is a much more experienced rider and could handle the difficult conditions much better than I could. I was just trying to hang on through the technical stuff, and then smash it with pace during the open riding sections.” 

Gardener’s winning time was 02:00:01:80, while Davies finished in 02:00:04:44.

Christoper Watters finished third in the Elite Category.

Meanwhile, Gardener’s win gave him the Dirt Master Championship, having won the TreX Cross-Triathlon on the Saturday.

His overall time for the two events combined was 04:18:02.

Simon Nendick finished second in the Dirt Master in a time of 04:55:54, with Matthew Klibbe third, 05:01:17.

In the Women’s 47.5km Mountain Bike event, Connie Silvestri took out Gold, in a time of 02:23:16.

This win also gave Silvestri- like Gardener- the triple honour of winning the Mountain Bike, the Cross Triathlon, and with it, the Dirt Mistress Championship.

Silvestri’s combined Dirt Mistress time was 05:22:56, finishing ahead of Morgan Whiting (05:47:34) and Libby Pennisi (06:05:12)

In the 28.5km Mountain Bike Event, Michael Milne was the fastest male, and Nerida Higgins the fastest female.

And in the 9.5km event, the fastest female was Kayley Moore, and the quickest male was Carter Bell.

The Queensland Government, via Tourism and Events Queensland, is proud to support the Sunshine Coast MultiSport Festival which features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. Your perfect next event is in Queensland where live events combine with the most incredible destinations, and life is beautiful one day, perfect the next.

Full results, photos and videos can be found on the links below or by visiting the event website at in2adventure.com.au

• Results
• Video Action
• Photos

About In2Adventure

In2Adventure are Asia-Pacific’s premier adventure event specialists, and the proud hosts of the 2016 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships. With a full calendar of national events scheduled throughout Australia, including cross triathlon, XC Mountain Bike, trail runs and corporate events, In2Adventure fully embraces all things ‘off road’ and ‘off the beaten track’ and offers a unique, individual experience for all ages and skill levels.

For more information visit In2Adventure here

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