LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sir – Yesterday was the final stage of Australia’s most legendary mountain bike stage race, The Redback, presented by Ingkerreke Commercial.
The Redback provides four days and six stages of some of the most inspiring mountain biking Australia has to offer, racing along the jaw-dropping trails around Alice Springs.
The event has been running for eight years and has seen a revamp this year with the new name The Redback and a condensed race format. The six stages are extremely varied, offering up stunning 40-50km cross country stages through to a 22km night race and a 300m climb up Alice Spring’s Anzac Hill.
Over 200 mountain bikers from across Australia took part, from the elite to the weekend warriors and everything in between.
The 43km Chifley Alice Springs Resort Stage 6 finale started with a 1.7km circuit through the streets of Alice Springs under a police-escorted peloton before heading out onto the trails. Riders were treated with some superb single track including a brand new section of trail, Stimpsons Track on Undoolya Ridge.
The stage, and the event, concluded on the lawn beside the Todd River at the historic Telegraph Station, adding to the overall travel experience for the interstate riders.
Yesterday, Craig Cooke was once again victorious, finishing in a smashing time of 1 hour, 51 minutes. Two minutes behind him was Ben Hogarth in second place and then 15-year-old local young gun Luke Pankhurst in third.
In the women’s event it was a close race between Holly Harris and Terri Rhodes with Holly proving just too strong and taking the stage win by 37 seconds. Anna Beck from Queensland finished in third.
After four days and six stages of intense, challenging and interesting riding, it was Ben Hogarth from South Australia and Holly Harris from NSW who finished as clear winners at the top of the leader board.
The total time for Ben Hogarth was 7 hours, 47 minutes. Behind him was veteran rider James Downing in 7 hours, 59 minutes, followed by Craig Cooke from WA in 8 hours.
Holly Harris finished The Redback after 9 hours, 1 minute of riding, over 6 minutes ahead of second placed Terri Rhodes. Third overall female was Kim Willocks from Victoria in 9 hours, 52 minutes.
Said Harris: “This is my first visit to Alice Springs. I’ve ridden all over the world and I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s pretty breathtaking.
“The quality of the trails is pretty awesome and there’s so much of it, you can just keep going and going and not ride the same bit.”
Erica Naughtin
Marketing and Communications Manager
Friday, April 26, 2024
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