Traditionally just one day comprising of 25 and 50-kilometre events, VOGA Cycle Club decided to make a weekend of it with a social ride held on Saturday and race day on Sunday.

VOGA committee member Chris Chatham said the two-day format highlighted a change in focus for the club, which is made up of cycle enthusiasts in and around Creswick. 

“We ran two social rides on Saturday – just free rides so people could turn up and explore some of the tracks that weren’t included in the actual race day,” he said.

“We also pushed for more of a junior focus. During the year we ran a three-race junior series with the intention of trying to boost up our junior numbers and introduce a junior event on the Sunday.”

Chatham said catering for juniors with a new 10-kilometre event was a natural progression after an increase in kids enrolling in the 25-kilometre event. 

“Overall the weekend was really successful,” he said. 

“There was a mountain bike event in Bendigo, which had been postponed due to wet weather and rescheduled on the same day as us. We weren’t too sure how our numbers were going to go, but once you include juniors we actually matched numbers from last year. We had about 134 total enrolments.”

Chatham said the “magic” spring weather formed part of the success, while the event was also growing and evolving due to word of mouth and its atmosphere. 

“It’s a different feel to the other races,” he said. 

“We call it a challenge, we don’t call it a race even though people can win. We’re trying to keep that friendly, low-key vibe happening.

“And as a result we’re getting a lot of people coming from further afield, looking for a grass roots type of event.

“We have a lot of first timers and people who’ve come up and stayed the weekend.”

He said the range of participants was diverse but all of them had the desire to challenge themselves.

The tough terrain, made up of single tracks, dirt roads and forest surroundings, was an additional challenge.

“Riding 50 kilometres on a mountain bike is probably the equivalent of riding 100 (kilometres) on the road in terms of the effort required,” Chatham said. 

Results:

Winners included Rohin Adams in the open men 50-kilometre challenge, Jude Jonasson in the open women 50-kilometre challenge, Ryan Jans in the open men 25-kilometre challenge, Lisa Hill in the open women 25-kilometre challenge, Charlie Wheatland in the under 18 men’s event and Ella Jordan in the under 18 women’s event.