Lowan Otway Odyssey 100km Marathon

What a hype around this race, every rider I met within the last three weeks asked me “And, are you going to the Otway Odyssey?”, “Yep, sure I’ll do”…knowing that it will hurt and that I didn’t want to get constantly reminded. But after having done the ‘Trans Germany’ last year I was confident that I was prepared for it all!
The weather forecast promised some good rain for the area and it didn’t disappoint us – it rained almost all afternoon and the night before race start. Everybody was looking worried on arrival Friday night, whereas I was actually thinking that a mud fest could be to my advantage and that I don’t want to worry about the rain…
Being more of an Endurance racer, I do have that lack of sprint strength and I can’t really explode from the start; my race plan was to ignore this fact and to smash myself from start to finish. Get the heart rate up quickly and let the adrenaline kicking in early and keep going on a wave of endorphins (natural!) through the single track …
After the start in Apollo bay, the first long climb up Wild dog road was so much gentler than the climb last year; I managed to pass many girls that usually do leave me behind… I passed Jaci Low, Jenni King and Kathrin Van der Spiegel. I was a bit worried that I was pushing too hard, but my legs just kept going and I was comfortable. As soon as we hit the dirt, I was in my element and passed many people that seemed to be very scared of riding in mud.
Soon after there was no riding anymore, the track had become slippery and not rideable anymore after all the rain. For the next 30-45 min, it was more of a hike than a ride…on the bike…off the bike …
I guess that demoralized a lot of riders and added to the suffering of cramps and early fatigue.
The only thing, that I was worried about, was who of those fast girls behind me, were going to hunt me down soon…
Norm Douglas informed me that I was on 7th position, which made me very happy, because I thought that anything top 10 would be a big achievement in this race.
But that made me be on the run, convinced that I will get run down soon…

During the race I only had minor cramps and felt strong, was hydrated and ate enough to stay on my bike. Coming through the oval in Forrest after the first 65km loop, I refueled with the help of my lovely support team (Thanks to Katie, Ali and Juliette – unfortunately none of them able to ride this time - next year, girls!!). And for the first time I thought it looks like I might stay in top ten!!
I could hear my name through the loudspeaker and that I was doing well. YAY!
The tracks around Forrest are absolutely fantastic and I had a ball, I almost got dizzy from all the cornering, burms, jumps – those track building guys up there have done a great job!
Before I got onto the last 13km loop, I got passed by Kathrin Van der Spiegel….”oh no, you can’t pass me now’, I hear myself saying, thinking that I was never able to beat hear....
As she told me later, she didn’t have much left either anymore and just wanted to break me on those last long fire road climbs….and she did.
I was very happy coming 8th in a field of some very good female riders(although there is a bit of a time gap….).
I had an awesome race and can recommend to anyone out there to do it if you feel comfy on your MTB and don’t mind the pain and lots of climbing uphill...

Results – 100km Women’s Open
1st – Jennifer Smith (USA) – 6:24:56
2nd – Emma Colson (VIC) – 6:34:36
3rd – Jaci Low (VIC) – 6:44:18
4th – Tory Thomas (VIC) – 6:49:09
5th – Naomi Hansen (QLD) – 7:03:24
6th – Katrin van der Spiegel – 7:05:40
7th – Rebecca Locke (VIC) – 7:07:04
8th - Alexandra Kiendl (VIC) – 7:08:58
9th – Jenni King (VIC) – 7:23:19
10th – Deanna Blegg (VIC) – 7:29:17

The Otway Gang: Ali, Turi, Katie, Russell, Erica and I