Sunday 1 May 2014
MEDIA RELEASE Andy Blair Makes History by Claiming Victory of the Inaugural
Port to Port MTB
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The final stage of the Inaugural Port to Port MTB kicked off from the pristine Cam’s Wharf this morning, setting the riders
up for a fast 49km coastal ride up to Newcastle.
From the get go, heads were down and knees were flying, as Torq rider Chris Hamilton tried to close the 28 second gap
between him and Swell Specialize’s Andy Blair. The first climb out of Cam’s Wharf saw Hamilton and his team of young
Torq riders driving the pace, with Andy Blair and his team mate Shaun Lewis close behind.
Flying past the town of Swansea in one big pack, Lewis lead the way as he was determined to be there all morning to
support his team mate Blair to victory. The early riding by Lewis was impressive as he had not had the best event,
finishing outside the top ten on all of the first three stages.
Riders were then led along the coast and onto a wooden slab path which abruptly ended in a pit of sand and into
Blacksmith’s Surf Beach. Local Newcastle and Masters Mens 1 leader Stu Adams said the sand was miserable. “We all fell
off the board walk, there was a bit of a pile up there that was pretty funny,” said Adams.
As the lead pack pushed through the soft sand, avoiding the waves rolling in, Blair and his right hand man Lewis planned
to make the most of the unforgiving sand, and isolate Hamilton from the rest of his Torq team mates. Balancing
themselves over the sand between rolling waves, they managed to gain a substantial lead.
Once off the beach riders faced the flat open Fernleigh track, where Blair and Lewis really put the pressure on Hamilton, a
role reversal from the previous stages where Blair had been attacked by Hamilton’s Torq team mates.
“We let Chris off the front for a little bit. Thinking he might have a little gap, we let him go. I held him there for a bit to try
to wear him out, but he was going well. I thought we aren’t going to get away with it here. Let’s save our power to drive
through Glenrock,” recalls Blair.
The approaching trails within the Glenrock Mountain Bike park approached, and this is where things started to shake up.
Gradually one by one, Hamilton’s young Torq mates and 18-year old local Christopher Aitken clawed their way up to the
leaders. As the group swelled, the trail narrowed, and the pressure was on as they exited Glenrock only seconds apart.
“The Torq guys tried to get rid of Andy on the single track for me, but it just wasn’t long enough,” said Hamilton.
The last section of today’s stage saw riders descend into the suburban coastal town of Mereweather Beach, before
heading north towards Newcastle. This is where tactic and preparation really came to play for Blair.
“I went down yesterday to check this section out, as there were a few tricky bits over the beach including tight turns,
underpasses and stairs,” said Blair. “We sussed out all those little tricks and it helped a lot.”
As the tight pack appeared around the corner to the final stop at Nobby’s Beach, it was Blair, Hamilton, Lewis, Aitken and
Torq riders Bejamin Forbers, Liam Jeffries, and Tasman Nakervis who made it in the final pack. Pushing their way towards
the light house, it was a tight scramble to the end ultimately ending in Blair’s favour.
Blair paid recognition to his team mate Lewis for helping him to the stage and overall win. “Shaun just rode so hard across
the beach to make sure he was there with me and to isolate Chris, to put the Torq boys on the back foot. It was good for
me that he had a good day out there today,” said Blair.
Jenny Fay once again proved she’s the best in the business, crossing the finish line with another win, making it all four
stage in a row at the Port to Port MTB. The champion Swell Specialised rider was joined on the podium by Torq’s Emily
Parkes and Subaru Marathon MTB.com’s Imogen Smith.
“To be honest I just wanted to keep it conservative today and try to not have any accidents. My aim was just get to the
finish in one piece,” said Fay.
The Port to Port MTB began at the idyllic Nelson Bay Marina, before moving into the Hunter Valley and finishing up in
Newcastle.
For more information, images and interview opportunities please contact:
Maddy Plummer
Event Publicist
(+61) 433 338 697
[email protected]
Shaun and I had a plan to make it pretty hard over there and in the end we took it off the beach together Shaun and Chris
and
myself,
we’d isolated him from his team mates. We hit the Fernleigh track shortly after that so it’s 15km pretty flat pretty open
terrain. It was a bit tricky we tried a few things, we let Chris off the front for a little bit thinking he might have a little gap
we let him go. I held him there for a bit and tried to wear him out and then we caught him and we started 1 2 at him
around the Fernligh track but he was good at it. So we though toh well were not really going to get away with it here so
we’d just keep our power to drive through to Glenrock and so the pace kind of really eased of it was kind of pedestrian.
Gradullay 1 by 1 all his Torq team mates clawed back into us and the group swelled before we got to Glenrock. There was
maybe 5 Torq guys, Chris Aitken myself an dshaun and then Hamo went to the front in Glenrock and tried to make my life
hard, it didn’t really break up after that. Then along the beach there were a few tricky bit, underpasses where you go
down stairs. Some little tricky mates that me and my team mate Chri sIvery came over yesterday to check out, they took
us around and we sussed out all those little tricks on the run in on the last 10 or so k’s so it sort of helped a lot. I think we
had Chris under pressure a couple of times to get some good gaps.
Likewise the reccy I did for the sprint was crucial to winning the stage.
I made sure Shaun knew he had to get on my wheel. We had a plan to lead him out, but it was such a short
finish it didn’t quite pan out. He just rode so hard across the beach to make sure he was there with me and to
isolate Chris, to put the Torq boys on the back foot. It just makes me very confident. Its good to see Shaun have
a really good day.
Jenny –
Im getting a bit weary now so it’s just a case of holding on.I was making a few mistakes at the start and got into
a group that they worked really hard together but I knew I had to be just a bit further up the road. To be honest
I just wanted to keep it conservative today and try to not have any accidents, get to the finish in one piece.
Every day was just so different and today was just completely different again, so it was good to have such
diversity.
Stu
Not too bad I was kind of hoping it would be a bit harder than it was so I could do anything to get back the time.
We just couldn’t quite get away from Blairy and Lewy. In the single track I really wanted to be in front and I did
get infront most of it, but it just wasn’t quite long enough to do any damage. The bloke behind you doesn’t get
a rest either, it was quite enough this time.