OED
—Clockwise from top left James Culver riding hard in the XC event; Tom Green on his way to 3rd in the XC Event; MTB captain Chris Hinds.
The last day of the competition was the cross-country event. Tom Green shone in this event, coming 3rd behind a second-place getter who had to run the last 100 metres with his bike over his shoulder due to a broken chain. Chris Hinds wasn’t far behind him, in 5th place, and this joint effort helped the Division 1 riders take second place in a field of 113 starters. In Division 2, Luc Weymouth was the first of the Barker team crossing in 11th place, with James Culver placing 0.1 seconds behind him, and Richard Marais finishing about 20 seconds later. Once again, this strong showing over five laps resulted in Barker placing 2nd in the Division 2 XC event. Finally, the Division 3 riders started with 130 other hopefuls. Lachlan Horsely was the best of the Barker team, finishing in 8th place with Jordan Montgomery coming 17th. Excellent efforts in such a large field. Many thanks to all the parents who helped, with special thanks to Mr and Mrs Hinds, who supplied a daily sausage sizzle as well as Gatorade and delicious muffins, as part of their fundraising for the Tour De Cure. Andrew Love MIC Mountainbiking
THE BARKER | WINTER 2015
On Saturday morning, after many downhill practice runs (on one of which Eddie Thomas ran over a snake), the King of the Mountain event finally started. The best of our riders was Barker MTB captain Chris Hinds in Division 1 (Years 11 and 12), who came 7th out of a field of 72 starters, clearly demonstrating that a serious fall on the same course over the summer vacation was not going to put him off. Chris’ time of 5 minutes and 30.8 seconds was only about 36 seconds slower than the winner. Tom de Kantsow and Tom Green were the next best placed in 31st and 32nd respectively. In Division 2 (Years 9 and 10), Sam Gibson and Sean McCormack were our fastest riders, finishing 44th and 45th from a field of 94 starters. Kyle Henderson was not far behind them in 47th place. The winner of this Division finished in an amazing time of 5.03 seconds and Sam was just under 2 minutes off this time, despite a fall close to the start and tearing a ligament from his little finger. In Division 3 (Years 7 and 8) Jordan Montgomery crossed the line in 24th place about 1 minute 20 seconds behind the race winner in a time of 7 minutes 22.44 seconds. Lachlan Horsley and Hamish Carolan also finished in the top 40 in the 72-strong field.
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