Mountain bike title race is wide open

Who is going to step up?

That’s the question on the lips of riders as the Conrad Mountain Bike Series starts on Sunday.

Now that defending champion Garth Thomson is out of the way, several riders will have a shot at taking his vacated crown.

The season kicks off with the inaugural End to End MTB Race starting at 9:30am at the Clocktower in Dockyard.

The race will be mainly along the railway trail from Sandy’s to ferry Reach Park in St. George’s.

Race organizer Grant Goudge

“The person who had as a benchmark the previous years, i.e. Garth won’t be out there at the front because he’s not on the island anymore.

“There’s a lot of people who could win it. If Garth were here, there were not a lot of people who could touch him. If he was on song he was going to win unless he had some sort of mechanical problem. There wasn’t a lot of people who could touch him so this opens it up to a lot of people.

“Who really won’t know that until the season unfolds.”

Among those who start as pre-season favourites to lift the Conrad’s crown is Goudge.

The other host of contenders includes Mark Hatherley, Dexter Swan and Neil de ste Croix.

“There are a few guys swapping over from road racing so it depends on if they have the handling skills to match the fitness skills.

“They could be dark horses as well along with Dexter Swan.

“It all just depends on how they take to the mountain bike.”

Goudge said Sunday’s mountain bike opener “will be mentally tough because it’s so long.

“They will have to stay focused for the amount of time they are racing and not switch off and just pedal long the trails.

“That’s going to be the hardest part of the race as there’s no real technical hard parts. There’s a couple of parts through Flatt’s and the horse trail that’s quite tricky, but in the grand scheme of things I expect the winner to place in around two hours.”

Sarah Bonnet should be the frontrunner among the women.

“She’s really been the flag bearer among women in mountain bike racing over the last few years with very little competition.”

The Mountain Bike Series is comprised of eight races, which also includes the Bicycle Works Endurance Race, and concludes with the Winners Edge MTB Mountain Bike Championship on March 27.

Tokio youth races

On Saturday, The Tokio Youth Mountain Bike Series will take place at 4pm at the Arboretum.

There is no cost to enter and the races are meant to be more fun than competitive.  Children are free to use any type of bicycle, even those with training wheels. Participating children will receive goodie bags.