The Otway Odyssey is a gruelling 100km marathon from the Victorian beach side town of Apollo Bay over the hills and into the mountain biking mecca of Forrest. The 2010 running of the event last weekend was a battle of the World Solo 24 Hour Champions with Jason English, James Williamson and Craig Gordon battling it out along with 1,000 other riders. Peter Hatton, 6th place finisher in Open Men's went along for the ride. PETER HATTON for ENDURO PULSE

The Otway Odyssey has been run and won for another year with Adrian Jackson creating a minor upset based on his lead up form to be crowned 2010 winner, Lachlan Norris took the runner up spot and all time hard man Craig Gordon took 3rd.

It was my first attempt at the Otway’s and a race I thought would be a good box to tick, being arguably the toughest and most popular marathon in Australia. The field was definitely the cream of the crop of Australian riders with many lined up for the start. Hearing about the vicious climbs and stiff competition I decided a conservative approach would be the order of the day, there is nothing worse than blowing in a marathon, an experience I know all to well.

So the first climb wasn’t too bad but the second at somewhere around the 15k mark was a seriously steep piece of work and basically where the race opened up. Unfortunately I wasn’t with the front group and had to settle in for basically a long hard training ride to the finish. Fortunately I had the company of a couple of mates and we did our best to keep the pace high and carry our momentum. I struggled through the long singletrack sections, my mind doing battle with my legs, the voices inside waging a war between good and evil, giving up and carrying on. The good prevailed and the 3 of us stuck at it till 10km to go when my elation at being so close to the finish produced enough adrenalin to power the legs home for a strong finish.

It was a tough race but as you do I’ve already forgotten the suffering and the memories seem way better than I’m sure I felt at the time. The course was pretty good, with varying and differentiated sections to break the race down into, plenty of singletrack and challenging terrain.

On a side not, as is often the case, these race organisers need to get their act together when it comes to putting on the presentations. They should be within an hour of the race winner finishing, it’s just really uncool and unprofessional to make these top riders wait around for an unspecified time, in this case 5 hours after they’ve finished the race, in the hot blazing sun of a baron oval to receive their deserved awards when everyone just wants to head back down to Apollo Bay for a swim at the beach. Just a gripe of mine but everytime it leaves a sour note at the end of an otherwise well run event.

Results:

Open Men:
1. Adrian Jackson
2. Lachlan Norris
3. Craig Gordon
4. Luke Fetch
5. Jason English
6. Peter Hatton
7. Shaun Lewis
8. James Williamson
9. Matthew Fleming
10. David Johnston

Open Women:
1. Judith Arndt
2. Katherine O'Shea
3. Peta Mullins
4. Naomi Hansen
5. Rebecca Locke
6. Stephanie Russell
7. Tory Thomas
8. Alyson Ramsay
9. Jessica Douglas
10. Anna Wilson

Full race results can be found at www.rapidascent.com.au

Photos Courtesy of Rapid Ascent: Top: Adrian Jackson, Photographer, Jon Barter. Middle: Elite women's field rides up Busty Road. (Left to Right, Rebecca Locke, Katherine O'Shea, Joanna Wall & Naomi Hansen) Photographer, Jon Barter. Bottom: Jason English completes the 100km in 5th place, Photographer, Michael Currie.