We've entered this at the weekend but can't find anything on their website that says how to get to the start. Is it signposted from Springfield?

Assuming that they're using the same event centre as for other events at Annavale, then it should be clearly signposted off the highway.

Thanks Scatter

Great event, thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. Road the sports event and I've never climbed as much in my life.
Started riding across a field for 5 minutes before heading up hill for the next 90 minutes. There where a couple of short downhills mixed in all this climbing but no more than 10 minutes for those first 90 minutes of climbing. All the climbing was well worth it. Despite the fog at the top there were still some stunning views.
Most was ridable but still very hard. One of the parts that I had to get off and walk was 26% according to the rider beside me. Teresas GPS showed over 1000m climbing for the event.
The downhill was over very quickly. I have to thank Zane from MTB skills clinic. 6 months ago I would have gotten off and walked down this but after doing their course at the end of last year I caught another rider for the first time on a downhill section of a race. I'm still very slow coming down and had a dozen other riders pass me come down some of the short drops earlier on.
Last 10 kms where fast mostly flat and fast with 3 or 4 short pinch climbs and small stream crossings.
It was the hardest thing I've done for a couple of years but also the most fun I've had at a race for years.
Don't know how long I took or what position I finished. The event was so much fun the result just wasn't that important.
If you love climbing make sure you put this on your to do list. Thanks again everyone for a great day.

Yep, big day out and a good event. The long course had a solid 1700m of climbing over 50kms. Thanks to the Malvern Lions and the land owners.

What a beast the elite race was, made the frogrock ride look like romp round hagley park !!

I managed to get the lead through the forest section with a charge up the hill but paid for it on the the last climb after taking a wrong turn. Gary 'the machine" Ferguson passed me up the last section and put 3mins into me by the finish.

Starting to think the 29er with only 10 gears doesn't give me the granny gear for later in a race like this where the legs turn to mush. Might investigate how to go lower !!

Well done the the Lions club, congrats to Gary who showed age ain't no barrier :-)

Ha ha! Yeah only 13mins behind Gary "the machine" Ferguson. When he went past me after the forest on that 1st climb with legs going like metronomes knew he'd be achieving his well deserved win. Best climber on the course. Man I felt good for the 1st 2hrs . Pity about the last hr tho Was in a bit of a bad state on that last long climb and had this terrible feeling that the whole field was going to cycle past me at any moment after I lost a few more places, as I could only just turn the pedals.

Fantastic course. Nice and tough for some decent (and much needed) hill training. Great big descent and that ride through the forest was just awesome

Thanks for encouraging comments regarding the race.
The Lions club that organises the race are of the opinion that the course may be too hard!??
They are wanting to get the entry numbers up to 200+ not the 90-100 that are racing, the economics of organising a race such as this is such that they need to get a greater return even though it is all given to charity.
Is it the course that is dictating the numbers, the time of the year, the current economic climate or other reasons.
What's everyone's thoughts.

The Course will bring me back again. I love climbing. The course will stop my wife from returning as it was to hard for it to be enjoyable.
It might be other events that cuased the low numbers. That weekend there where Canterbury rides at the Nationals in Nelson, a race on the St James and the River Trail Challenge in Ashburton.
Maybe having a Thread on here a month before the event might put it in peoples minds.

Maybe keep the existing course for the die-hards and offer an easier option as well (if possible?).

This was the first time I did this, and I'm pleased I did. I have done the likes of Flock Hill, Geraldine and Mt Somers in the past, so it was great to add this local event to my to-do calendar too. I did the Sport route, but I normally do the longer/harder routes at these Lions events. I didn't this time because I had heard comments about the Elite course being a game of survival in the wind the previous year. The sport route matched my ability, fitness and motivation perfectly at this time of year, and given I haven't done much off-road cycling on the Port Hills since February 2011.

Please keep it in January. Keep the same awesome hilly Sport course - it's great! $40 entry seemed to be on the cheaper side of all the events I do?

But change the way you do the route signage. I could have easily got lost on three occasions. I was saved from going down one hillside track by someone else who had to climb back up.

See you next year.

g-j-d wrote:Thanks for encouraging comments regarding the race.
The Lions club that organises the race are of the opinion that the course may be too hard!??
They are wanting to get the entry numbers up to 200+ not the 90-100 that are racing, the economics of organising a race such as this is such that they need to get a greater return even though it is all given to charity.
Is it the course that is dictating the numbers, the time of the year, the current economic climate or other reasons.
What's everyone's thoughts.

Some thoughts... Its a good course. Keep the big one. Having the Sport and Rec as well means that there is something there for all. Could do with better marking but maybe we should have paid more attention! We got 62kms tho so better value?? Consider lifting the price of the Elite and dropping the price on the Rec. I would pay a bit more especially with it going to charitable Lions type stuff. Lots on that weekend with nats etc as someone else has noted. Promote it via Vorb, the Single Track club etc. Email the riders who have done it before.