Freedom Marathon, NNSW

[krizbike]

Heya,

anyone else doing the Freedom Marathon in a couple of weeks?
It's in Northern NSW near Minyon Falls/Rocky Creek Dam on Oct18th.

A bunch of us from the MTB club at Southern Cross Uni are doing it.
We rode some of it on the weekend - it's going to be tough. Very steep up and down hills and hot/humid conditions. Just gotta hope it doesn't rain between now and then.

Anywho, hope to see some of you there. Come and say hi (my bike is in the link in my sig). I'll be doing the 60k (but I might regret that later).

Chris

[Sumgy]

Yep, me and my Mamasita will be down from Brisbane for it.

http://www.opalmortgage.com.au/mtb/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=121&g2_serialNumber=2

[RED_RACER]

I entered last night, cant wait to back up after the 24hr!

[alchemist]

I entered last night, cant wait to back up after the 24hr!

6hr, 24hr, Marathon. Are you sure you are human?

[Sumgy]

6hr, 24hr, Marathon. Are you sure you are human?

It is the season for long distance events it would seem.
I will be backing up after the 8hr this last weekend and the Brisbane to Gold Coast road ride this weekend.

[DaGonz]

6hr, 24hr, Marathon. Are you sure you are human?

I'm starting to question this, especially since he stopped racing soloists and started going for outright wins.

Cheers
Gonz

[RED_RACER]

The Walcha 100km is on the weekend after the Freedom Marathon, but I need another race to fill in the weekend before the fling. Any ideas? I cant have a weekend off racing!

[JD26]

Adelaide National XCO and XCC round. November 1/2.

Pretend it's a mini race or something (2 hours XCO + 25 minutes for XCC)
A grand total of maybe 2 and a half hours ;)

[krizbike]

It is the season for long distance events it would seem.
I will be backing up after the 8hr this last weekend and the Brisbane to Gold Coast road ride this weekend.

Cool, I am doing the 100k Bris to Goldie ride on Sunday too. As well as 50k Saturday.

[RED_RACER]

I think this is the hardest 60km ride / race I have ever done! I'm so impressed with how well the track held up considering how much rain was floating around. A well run event, what did people think of the track and did anyone else almost have a heart attack when they came across the massive python?

[krizbike]

I think this is the hardest 60km ride / race I have ever done! I'm so impressed with how well the track held up considering how much rain was floating around. A well run event, what did people think of the track and did anyone else almost have a heart attack when they came across the massive python?

Yeah, a couple of weeks back I was wondering why Anthony didn't run a 100km circuit out there. When I got to those hills I remembered why. 60k there is as hard as 100k anywhere else. The hills are relentless! Definitely the hardest ride I have done so far. I was hoping for under 4hours, and got 3:50 or so I think.

Very well run event - heaps of water around, good focus on safety, friendly marshals and SES crew, awesome free food (rather that than a crappy t-shirt anyday!), and beautiful scenery. The mud wasn't as bad I was thought it would be. I'm glad he decided to not do the track over the top to Minyon though - that would have been very dodgy after that rain.

Python? Damn! I musta missed it. I was keeping an eye out for local fauna, as I have seen a red-bellied black up the top before. Loved the giant eucalypt though. Eucalyptus grandis I think. Also good to see that the top riders weren't dropping crap on the tracks. Usually I see heaps of stuff left, but I didn't this time. Thanks to all who look after these places!

The 10km descent was great, but I was wishing on that bit I had some Larsens on, rather than the skinny mud tyres I had chosen instead. I still managed to get up to over 55km/h for a fairly long way.

Here's hoping he gets even more riders next year and some decent sponsorship to help along the prize pool a bit more (random door prizes are the best for us non-placegetters).

I guess the Verticon 6-hour challenge is the next ride up in this area, followed by the Nationals?

Chris

[RED_RACER]

Are they going to post up the results from the race?

[krizbike]

Are they going to post up the results from the race?

He mentioned after the race that results will be up Tuesday night.
Check here tomorrow or Wednesday:
http://tr.nelson.co.nz/results.htm

Chris

[krizbike]

Results are up:

http://tr.nelson.co.nz/08freedom_marathon_results.htm

Yay - 5th in my category! I can't believe the winner was a whole hour in front of me! egads that's fast!

Chris

[tabmow]

I travelled from Sydney to race 60km in one of the most amazing places in NSW and take part in the Freedom Marathon.

The race was very well organised. The vibe at the event was friendly and interested and the post race meal awesome. One section of forest road through a bangalow grove felt mystical and the few peaks through the forest at the view were fantastic.

Unfortunately I found only 200m (less than 0.5%) of singletrack, out of 60km, dissapointing. The hills. Well like em or love em they are part of enduro mtb events and the 7km climb was certainly a challenge. 64km/hr or the way back down is a PB high score in an enduro race.

The ROADS held as expexted after rain, although very slippery, making high speed downhill cornering interesting. Hopefully there is more singletrack to be accessed and the course had been changed due to the track condtions.

Otherwise a great event and one which any roadie with little technical MTB skills would love.

P.S. Congrats to all who completed the 20/40 or 60 km, as it is certainly one of the toughest enduros around. This race just needs MORE SINGLETRACK and interesting trails to eliviate the forest road boredoom.

[krizbike]

I travelled from Sydney to race 60km in one of the most amazing places in NSW and take part in the Freedom Marathon.

Unfortunately I found only 200m (less than 0.5%) of singletrack, out of 60km, dissapointing. The hills. Well like em or love em they are part of enduro mtb events and the 7km climb was certainly a challenge. 64km/hr or the way back down is a PB high score in an enduro race.

P.S. Congrats to all who completed the 20/40 or 60 km, as it is certainly one of the toughest enduros around. This race just needs MORE SINGLETRACK and interesting trails to eliviate the forest road boredoom.

Yeah, it is a downside of riding up there - there is virtually no single track. He does say on the website: "Dirt roads, fire trails, and double tracks".
A bit of the track that would have been more interesting (not single track, but some very fast and chaotic firetrail) was taken out for safety reasons after the rain. The only other bit I can think of is the walking trail which goes from Rummery Park (where we started) through to just near Minyon Falls. It's very technical in places and a bit dodgy in others. I think it would be difficult to convince National Parks to let him use it.

I tried to get my roadie friends to come in it, cos I know it's all about endurance and strength (which they have plenty of) and not technical skills (which they don't have).

Chris