The RAMBO Interclub Series is on again this year. Following the success of last years series the team at Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers has once again organised this series. This year there will be 5 rounds with Bright being included into the mix and the categories and points system has been changed to spice things up. This series was a real success last year with everyone having a great time. This series also gives us the opportunity to compete and mix with our local clubs socially and sample the riding venues within close proximity to home. The informal Sunday half day format makes these events manageable from a time perspective and shouldn't be missed. This series also gives us the opportunity to get off the couch and race during winter so that we don't lose all that fitness we worked so hard for during the summer months.

If you didn't do at least one of these last you missed out badly so hook in this year.

For more information go to Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers Website.

The final round of the Victorian DH series will be held on the famous Big Hill course at Mt Beauty on the 2nd and 3rd of May. Team Mt Beauty will be hosting the round but they need help with volunteers for course marshalling duties. If you know of anyone , friends or family that can help out even if it's only a few hours over the weekend please email your contact details to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   or call me on 0427 517287.

Also on Easter Monday there will be a working bee on the course. All interested helpers please meet at the Big Hill Mountain Bike Park at 10am. If you can bring along a brushcutter, rake, pruning scissors or small chainsaw it would be appreciated, don't forget the gardening gloves. We are going to start from the top at No 5 Bench and work our way down to the bottom clearing and pruning the track where it is required. Any queries regarding the working bee , call Peter Panozzo on 0428 544521

The Chaingang have had a year off from hosting a DH round this season , but it would be good to help out TMB , (not to mention the regular overworked crew that follow the entire series around the state) and make a contribution to this final round.

Volunteers are always in short supply at MTB events , it would be great to get all the local club members involved in eachothers events so that we can all run succesful and safe races and ease the burden by lending a hand where possible.

Thank you.

Tony

This years state champs were held on "Interbom". Due to the International course being used for a national round a month previous , it was a little worse for wear , especially in the first section so the decision was made to run the top section of Abom , then onto a link track which came in just below the "superberm" on Inter. Most riders seemed content with this , if anything they were relieved that the race wasn't held on Abom.

The weather threw a big old curve ball at us though. In stark contrast to the recent national round which was held in above average temperatures , the state champs went from a fine mild saturday morning , to a downpour complete with electrical storm in the afternoon. Sunday brought sub zero temperatures in the morning and a fresh wind coming from the southwest , even the occasional snow flurry !

232 riders in 13 categories faced the bleak conditions , but as long as you could deal with the cold , the track conditions were very good. Lots of grip was to be had , just staying out of the ruts and not getting caught up in one of the many holes on course was the challenge.

In Elite men , Dean White missed out on qualifying by less than a second and placed 17th. In elite Women Katelyn Humphris took out 3rd place.

In under 19s Ryan Humphris managed to hold onto a top 10 position with 8th place. When your competition is putting in times to rival the fastest riders in the state , thats not a bad result. Jared Lockley finished 19th and Dylan Cole limped home to finish 27th after a crash and a suspected fracture in his hand.

Style for miles and local Funn destructive testing unit Darcy Wilkinson took out 3rd place in under 17s. Dean Lucas took out the title in under 15s , destroying the field by 26 seconds ! An awesome effort and a well deserved title ensuring at least one member of the Chaingang is state champion.

James Hunt from Myrtleford finished 2nd in Expert with Tom Riella in 7th. Good work fellas.

Stephen Leach squeezed into the top ten in hardtail class , finishing in 9th place.

In sport class Jake Hunter , fresh of a win at the Albury DH race , came home 4th and Jake Lucas finished 22nd. Rumour has it Lucas was attacked by one of the fabled Victorian black panthers during his race run , who mistakenly took him for a zebra and pounced in the densely wooded middle section of the course. Jake was said to have fought off the beast with a couple of slick wrestling moves before remounting and continuing his run losing only a few seconds in the process.

Not really , I just made that up.

Ther next round of the series is the rescheduled Baw Baw race on the 29th of March. No doubt we'll face similar conditions and mud is more a certainty than a chance. Should be fun !

Members, something for you to consider.

The Beechworth Chain Gang has grown from a collective of riders meeting at the bakery a couple times a week for a ride. We are now a club with riders from through out North East Victoria and managing MTB trails in Beechworth and hopefully soon in Wangaratta. Most mountain bike riders refer to our club as "the Chain Gang". See where I am going? Our next meeting is in February. My question is do we still need Beechworth in our name? Come to the meeting and discuss it!