Mountainless boys try Poker

The June long-weekend saw ten of us head north to Broken Hill for the Silver City's Annual Poker Run. Celebrating its tenth anniversary the event attracted riders from all over country NSW, Adelaide, Wodonga, Irymple and Mildura. After some very heavy rain in the days leading up to the weekend, event organizers knew the riders were in for some heavy muddy conditions. The event was held over two days with a 23 km Time Trial from Broken Hill to Silverton on Saturday morning, social ride in the afternoon and a 35 km Cross Country race on Sunday morning.
The weather for the time trial was overcast, cold and windy. Riders were staggered at one minute intervals, there were some very interesting battles playing out over the 23 km trail. As the riders neared Silverton, sticky mud clogged their machines, and contributed to some very spectacular crashes with more than one rider going over the bars when misjudging the depth of the mud. Two creek crossings, one with waist deep water made for an interesting challenge for riders who have become accustomed to dry dusty conditions. Broken Hill rider Dave Clarke clocked the fastest time of 52:00 for the 23 km course. However, the Mountainless Bike Club boys performed well with Nathan "Flo-rida" Floramo picking up a third in the Sport Mens class and Alex Drysdale and Sam Barnden picking up second and third respectively in the Juniors. Good job boys!
Saturday afternoons social ride was a slow leisurely familiarisation of the Cross Country course which followed the Silverton Heritage trail. It was great to see the mums and dads come out and join us. The course was nthing like what is around the Sunraysia (there hills for starters) with rocky climbs and fast downhill singletrack with not a tree in sight. That evening, riders and their family and friends, enjoyed the local hospitality with a much needed carbo loading pasta fest at the historic Silverton Hotel.
The morning of the main race was overcast, cold, and the rain was threatening. Forty two riders, as well as an excellent gallery of spectators and support crew braved the elements with the spectators jostling for the best vantage point under the verandah of the Hotel. The Poker race consists of two races in one. A Cross Country race and the Poker Race. The concept is that for each completed lap a rider recieves a playing card. The rider with the best hand wins the grand prize of an original artwork valued at $800. Juniors were required to complete 2 laps, women 3 laps, and men 5 laps. Additional laps could be completed by Juniors and Women to gain additional playing cards. This proved highly valuable, for a Junior veteran of the event, Billy Macfarlan from the Adelaide Mountain Bike Club. With 3 Kings in the winning hand, Billy snagged the original Howard Steer painting, much to the envy of the rest of the field.
Line honours went to Broken Hill's Dave "The Freak" Clarke who locals will know has ventured down here more than once and taken home the prize. Dave successfully defended his title. Although missing out on the painting, once again Sunraysia riders acquitted themselves well in the Crosss Country and the big grins on faces showed the level of enjoyment. In the Senior Men Ian Beruldsen was the best placed "out of towner" in sixth place. Nathan Floramo backed up his placing on Saturday with a third place in Sport Class ahead of Grant Brooks and Ross Pederesen who finished in the top ten.
Alex Drysdale had a good battle for 3rd, over fellow Coomealla Club riders Sam and Angus Barnden in the Juniors. An encouragement award went to Tyler Beruldsen from Coomie, who was the youngest rider (11yo) who not only rode the time trial, but also did the social ride and completed 3 laps for the Poker race.
The experience for the Sunraysia riders was excellent. "Everyone benefited from the weekend's racing. The course location was totally different to what we are used to racing at Coomealla. The wet muddy conditions were a challenge but a nice change. The rocky sketchy surface on the climbs and decents tested skills that we don't get the chance to use when racing around the Sunraysia. The Broken Hill Club have been great supporters of our events and it was really good to have the chance to reciprocate. We will look for some revenge in the Coomie Club Enduro in September." Thanks to the racers, riders and supporters that made the weekend a successful one. The next club race is at the Coomealla course this Sunday 15th June. Race registration from 9:30 Race starts at 10:00.