Lake Mountain's first ever mountain bike event a huge success! Last Saturday the 20th February almost 200 mountain bike riders competed in the inaugural Granite Grind. The event was held in conjunction with the Ventou Marysville Lake Mountain Challenge a recreational ride, which attracted over 900 entrants, approximately 700 of which made the tough climb from Marysville to Lake Mountain.

The Granite Grind was based on a single track race loop of approximately 9kms, with entrants having the option of doing one or two laps of the course. The track was new to most of the competitors, with trail construction starting in October of last year and completion of the track happening only a few weeks ago, providing a great opportunity for riders to explore the first stage of the new trail network.

The average temperature on the day was a sunny seventeen degrees, however strong winds of up to 46kms per hour played havoc early on. Excitement filled the air with cyclists everywhere providing a festival like atmosphere.
 
Local MP Ben Hardman was present to officially open stage one of the mountain bike trail network, cutting the ribbon in front of a crowd of riders and spectators, just prior to the race commencing.

Lenny the Leadbeater's Possum joined the cyclists on his bike at the start line for a pre-race briefing. Whilst Lenny didn't complete the course, he was there with other spectators to cheer racers on as they reached the finish line!

Results for the day saw Erica Gurner win the overall ladies and Sam Chancellor win the overall mens category, both with outstanding times. Other winners for the day included Jay Williams first in the open mens one lap and Nicola Woolford in the open womens one lap. Masters winners were Mary Hall in the womens 2 lap, Leonie Lewis in the womens 1 lap, Andrew Hall in the mens 2 lap and Karl Neumeister in the mens 1 lap. Well done to Andrew Meagher and Adam Brennan winning the Under 19 and Under 14 categories.

Trudi Ackerman, Marketing Manager at Lake Mountain Alpine Resort summed up the success of the day saying "A huge effort has been put in by staff and management at the resort to make this event happen and for the day to turn out so well makes it all worthwhile. There is a real excitement about the place at the moment and this event provides a great introduction of future things to come at Lake Mountain."

For a full list of race results and further information about mountain bike riding at Lake Mountain visit www.lakemountainresort.com.au.

Lake Mountain would like to thank all of the sponsors on the day including the National Australia Bank, Croydon Cycleworks, Murrindindi Cycle Club, CycleSport Victoria, Rochford Wines and the Murrindindi Shire Council. Thank-you also to all those volunteers who gave up their time to help not only on the day, but also prior to the event offering their services for several trail building days.