ALL AROUND OMEO AT THE CATTLEMEN 100
It’s pretty clear that lockdowns on society have had strange effects on people. I certainly did not think I would be racing a 175km Marathon straight out of lockdown that’s for sure, yet there I was in the tiny Victorian town of Omeo the last weekend in November, and so were 115 other people ready to throw caution to the wind. Literally.
After the horrific bushfires at the beginning of the year, Omeo is looking to rebuild itself. Like many other small country towns across Australia, each one has been competing to become the next Derby. To kick things off, on the back of a 4.5 million dollar grant from Federal, State and Local governments to build a 100km trail network, the town has banded together to run the Cattlemen 100. And that’s imperial, not metric. The event is a 100 mile marathon taking in all the surrounding areas connecting Omeo to the high country.
RACE DAY
The temperatures were already high at the start line at 7am, with a controlled roll out leading into the first 30km loop. With the majority of this loop spent climbing, the race was already breaking up. A small group established itself out the front, with the rest already bracing themselves for a long day in the saddle. There was no singletrack in this inaugural event, it was decidedly a road race run on dirt roads and could perhaps have been completed on a gravel bike, had the first 30km loop had a slightly easier descent back into town. On that point, the event wass mountain bike only.
The second loop into the hills was 50km long, which would take us to 80km running total so far. We all started seeing some of the high winds and high temperatures Omeo can be know for. At this stage I was part of the leading bunch, and I was quite shocked to see that we were racing down the Omeo highway, without a control car back into town. Road riders and frequent road racers might be used to this, but clearly some riders in the bunch weren’t and they felt fine to be crossing the white line on blind turns in pursuit of the rider ahead.
This sort of thing is an example of early teething problems for any event, but open roads, traffic and mountain bikers don’t always mix very well – thankfully there were no incidents. Hopefully there is a solution for this in 2021.
With the event running back into Omeo for one last stop, next up was the last and biggest loop. The final 95km. It seems strange that the loops weren’t run in reverse – with the temperatures pushing 38 degrees a good change for 2021 might be to run the loops as 95, 50 and then 30km, allowing for a little bit more rider support at the tail end of the event.
The high winds and high temperatures took a massive toll on the field of riders, and a hot weather policy in 2021 would be a great update to the event – or someway of tracking rider’s progress in the backcountry. Thankfully the majority of the field decided for themselves they were not willing to commit to the final big loop in those conditions. Roughly half who started finished, which is a massive achievement to those that did. I was not one of them.
The fastest on the day for the men was Lachlan Marshall in a time of 7 hours, 9 minutes. It was a battle full of cramps and double vision between Lachlan and Tas Nankervis that fell to Lachlan with only 2 mins separating them. In the Women’s it was a Kate Penglase who took the honours in 9 hours 11 minutes. The final competitor crossed the line in just under 13 hours. That must have been a big day. The winners won a sweet hat and a cheque for $1000 for their efforts. A nice prize purse for a big day out! Although some might say that the cow they also won was even better!
It was great to see a small country town going all in on making an event happen in such trying circumstances. From fires, to a pandemic and an economy crippled by a lockdown, having a new event rise out of all of this is testament to perseverance and community spirit. I’m sure most who raced will be back, as will those that are looking for a real mental and physical challenge. Bring on 2021!