When Craig asked if I was keen to race the Tathra Enduro on March 26/27th, my plans for writing the race report were a little different to how it’s turned out. I had been looking forward to racing the Tathra Enduro since I had heard about it; was a new race on the calendar, it was only 2.5 hours drive from our hometown, and the Youtube race preview clips the club posted on Facebook got us keen as mustard. However, I am currently sitting on a camping mat, in the back of our ute, typing this, as 71 males and 4 females have headed out on the King Nelba 100km. An injury has put me sulkily on the bench (literally as we are at the local football oval), and therefore I will give you a race report from a spectator’s point of view mixed with my partner, Al’s point of view who is lucky enough to be out there tearing up the trails. My only wish is for him and his bike to come back in one piece, as this has not been the case with one or the other breaking in his last couple of races.
Tathra is a small coastal town about 5 hours south of Sydney and 2.5 hours south east of Canberra and lucky for us only 2.5 hours from East Gippsland. This race came to fruition when the environmental group Clean Energy for Eternity collaborated with the Wilderness Coast and Snowy Mountains MTB Club to bring about one goal. The goal: to run an event that would not only showcase some wicked single track in Tathra but to also raise money to go towards making Tathra the first town to run solely on solar power.
As we drove into the township of Tathra we embarked down a ridiculously steep hill and the worried look on Al’s face said it all. The cliff face we stared up on from the township confirmed the rumours we had heard about the race being hilly. Saturday we headed to the Tathra Country Club for registration and to watch the 10km time trail and the 2km kids race. This was very entertaining and no doubt there were some future Australian mountain bike champions in the making. The next event was a 10km prologue that showcased some of the best single track Tathra had to offer, with Jason English beating 40 other competitors in a cranking time of 29:31. The race hub was in full swing, with the Trek Demo guys displaying some awesome bikes, with the tunes pumping and the Lions Club frying up a bbq to raise funds towards the Clean Energy Community Project.
Sunday morning soon rolled around and our caravan park was a convenient 5 minute ride from the Race Hub. We arrived to find the MC and the music blaring had everyone fired up for race start and then came race briefing, which perhaps went a little too long for nervous competitors keen to go, provided a hilarious and informative insight into how the trails came about to be in Tathra. A helicopter doing doughies in the air had us all entertained as people wondered whether a kamikaze parachuting mountain biker was going to dive out. No such luck but an added entertainment factor to make this a unique event.
The King Nelba 100km course saw competitors head straight into single track so a Le Mans start was decided upon, seeing 71 riders lining up in the middle of the oval and running to their bikes was quite a spectacle. Same went for the 50km Goat Knob Race which had over 120 competitors, with the highlight being two guys wrestling in the middle of the field to stop the other from getting to their bike first, but most likely resulted in both heading into the single track last! I think the Le Mans worked well, however if this event continues to grow and numbers increase, organisers may need to look at making the run longer or having some fire road before going into single-track. A 16km single track circuit at the beginning of the race gave spectators the opportunity to see riders came through the Race Hub about after 16k, and then again at the 90km mark.
The Tathra Enduro was a fantastic event, especially for an event that is in its first year and one that was run by a handful of volunteers. It had the feel of a local club event and I believe this gave it an awesome vibe, I can see this race getting bigger and bigger in the future, and I hope it can still maintain that relaxed feeling. Riders described the course as “bloody hard” and Jason English said he believed it should be considered for the National Marathon Championship Race next year. There were some organisation aspects that are to be expected with a first time event, and I’m sure these will be ironed out for next year. Feedback from riders included the competitor show bags being a little light on with goodies and minimal nutrition at aid stations for an event with a $100 entry fee, a clock at the finishing shoot, on occasion some organisers seemed unsure of where riders should be or what to do.
What made this event truly special was having so many locals involved and the local support, it seemed every single business in the town was behind the event. The Royal Lifesaving Club, the local supermarket, the Lions Club, Emergency Services, the local fish and chip shop, newsagent and Tathra Beach and Bike Shop to name a few. Also, the local indigenous group needs to be thanked for allowing these awesome trails to have been built, the MTB club, Stacey George and all the volunteers who set up the drink stations, chopped the watermelons, and encouraged riders to the very end.
Al would also like to thank the two 10 year old girls who were perched on a hill set up with a table and water jug at the 35km mark offering to fill riders drink bottles. When Al asked if they had any “Torq powder” he was met with the reply “umm...we don’t know what that is, we just carried the table, ice and water up by ourselves from our house.” It was this community spirit that made it such a special event and it he whole community has got behind this event and I urge mountain bikers to get behind it next year, it is well worth the trip. Well done to Jason English who won in a cranking time of 4 hours and 46 minutes, and Amanda Sanderson was the first female to cross the line.
Well done and a big thank-you must go to the Wilderness Coast and Snowy Mountains MTB Club, Clean Energy for Eternity, local businesses Tathra Beach and Bike Store, all sponsors, volunteers, locals and all involved on providing such a fantastic event that helps support the environment and clean energy campaign. I’ll be hitting the Tathra trials throughout the year as it is an awesome holiday destination and can’t wait to write next year’s race report AFTER the race in my lycra!
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