More than 100 mountain bike riders participated at the King of Kincumba Charity Race and Mountain Bike Festival on Saturday at the Kincumba Mountain Reserve. All raised funds from entry fees and the Family Fun ride gold coin donations will go to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and the Pedal4Pierce charity organisations. Among the field of riders were acclaimed marathon champions Andy Blair and Jenny Fay, who were crowned the new “King and Queen of Kincumba”.
The “King of Kincumba” charity race was launched last year by James Henty, proprietor of the Kincumber Hotel who wanted to create a community event for local mountain bikers, cyclists and families and to attract more visitors into the Central Coast region.
“Within a year, we almost tripled the number of event participants, which shows the popularity of cycling and mountain biking on the Central Coast”, said James Henty from the Kincumber Hotel, which hosted the post-race prizing ceremony and celebrations.
This year, he got support from the local Central Coast Ourimbah MTB Club with its president Gary Goodwin, who put together the race track, which was a 14km loop on the firetrail network on top of Kincumba Mountain. Local cycling and race organisers Juliane and Martin Wisata from Rocky Trail Entertainment lent a helping hand in promoting the event, marking the trails and providing the official race timing services. The King of Kincumba event this year was also part of the NSW Bike Week and received support and ticks of approval from Gosford Council.
Race start at the Kincumba Mountain Reserve
Strong local elite field
The calibre of racers was certainly impressive – last year’s winner James Lamb from Erina was at the start line, along with many local acclaimed mountain bike racers, inclucing Downhillers Jarrad Connolly, Bradley Jolliffe and Daniel Paine as well as Max Richardson.
National mountain bike champions Andy Blair from Canberra and Jenny Fay from Bondi took out the wins in the Elite categories. Andy Blair had been one of the strongest favourites and claimed the King of Kincumba title in a time of 1:07.12, ahead of Sydney’s Garry Millburn (1:10.59) and Crocodile Trophy finisher Mark Griffin (1:12.42), who grew up on the Central Coast.
Jenny Fay finished as fifth-fastest racer overall in a time of 1:20.11 ahead of local Laura Renshaw who completed the two loops in just over 2 hours.
Elite Female podium (l-r): Laura Renshaw (2) and Jenny Fay (1)
In the further age groups David Stevens from Belmont won the Masters 40+ category in 1:30.36 and Vincent Keir from Eleebana took out the SuperMasters 50+ category in 1:22.11. Nick Kirwan from Terrigal was the fastest Junior U18 racer on the day. The juniors were required to complete just one 14km loop and Nick Kirwan finished in a race time of 42.46.
James Lamb finished seventh in the elite men’s field after bad luck with a mechanical and crashing on a rough descent.
Elite Male podium (l-r): Garry Millburn (2), Andy Blair (1), Mark Griffin (3), Max Richardson (4)
Family fun day out
While the charity race was in full swing, more than 30 kids and parents completed a fun ride on a 3km-return loop from the top of Kincumba Mountain to a lookout over the beautiful Avoca Beach.
In this fun ride everyone was a winner and with the race winners claiming their prizes at the ceremony at the Kincumber Hotel, all the kids also received a finisher prize and certificate, kindly donated by the local Erina Bikeworx and Gosford’s Bikecology bike stores.
The “godfather” of the King of Kincumba event, James Henty and his supporters are already brainstorming ideas for the 2013 event and plan to have it coincide with next year’s NSW Bike Week again and to raise more funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Services and the Pedal4Pierce Muscular Dystrophy Kids Charity organisations.
Kids on the podium - Everyone was a winner at the Family fun ride!
King and Queen of Kincumba 2012 - Andy Blair and Jenny Fay
Photos: Pedal4Pierce
The “King of Kincumba” charity race was launched last year by James Henty, proprietor of the Kincumber Hotel who wanted to create a community event for local mountain bikers, cyclists and families and to attract more visitors into the Central Coast region.
“Within a year, we almost tripled the number of event participants, which shows the popularity of cycling and mountain biking on the Central Coast”, said James Henty from the Kincumber Hotel, which hosted the post-race prizing ceremony and celebrations.
This year, he got support from the local Central Coast Ourimbah MTB Club with its president Gary Goodwin, who put together the race track, which was a 14km loop on the firetrail network on top of Kincumba Mountain. Local cycling and race organisers Juliane and Martin Wisata from Rocky Trail Entertainment lent a helping hand in promoting the event, marking the trails and providing the official race timing services. The King of Kincumba event this year was also part of the NSW Bike Week and received support and ticks of approval from Gosford Council.
Race start at the Kincumba Mountain Reserve
Strong local elite field
The calibre of racers was certainly impressive – last year’s winner James Lamb from Erina was at the start line, along with many local acclaimed mountain bike racers, inclucing Downhillers Jarrad Connolly, Bradley Jolliffe and Daniel Paine as well as Max Richardson.
National mountain bike champions Andy Blair from Canberra and Jenny Fay from Bondi took out the wins in the Elite categories. Andy Blair had been one of the strongest favourites and claimed the King of Kincumba title in a time of 1:07.12, ahead of Sydney’s Garry Millburn (1:10.59) and Crocodile Trophy finisher Mark Griffin (1:12.42), who grew up on the Central Coast.
Jenny Fay finished as fifth-fastest racer overall in a time of 1:20.11 ahead of local Laura Renshaw who completed the two loops in just over 2 hours.
Elite Female podium (l-r): Laura Renshaw (2) and Jenny Fay (1)
In the further age groups David Stevens from Belmont won the Masters 40+ category in 1:30.36 and Vincent Keir from Eleebana took out the SuperMasters 50+ category in 1:22.11. Nick Kirwan from Terrigal was the fastest Junior U18 racer on the day. The juniors were required to complete just one 14km loop and Nick Kirwan finished in a race time of 42.46.
James Lamb finished seventh in the elite men’s field after bad luck with a mechanical and crashing on a rough descent.
Elite Male podium (l-r): Garry Millburn (2), Andy Blair (1), Mark Griffin (3), Max Richardson (4)
Family fun day out
While the charity race was in full swing, more than 30 kids and parents completed a fun ride on a 3km-return loop from the top of Kincumba Mountain to a lookout over the beautiful Avoca Beach.
In this fun ride everyone was a winner and with the race winners claiming their prizes at the ceremony at the Kincumber Hotel, all the kids also received a finisher prize and certificate, kindly donated by the local Erina Bikeworx and Gosford’s Bikecology bike stores.
The “godfather” of the King of Kincumba event, James Henty and his supporters are already brainstorming ideas for the 2013 event and plan to have it coincide with next year’s NSW Bike Week again and to raise more funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Services and the Pedal4Pierce Muscular Dystrophy Kids Charity organisations.
Kids on the podium - Everyone was a winner at the Family fun ride!
King and Queen of Kincumba 2012 - Andy Blair and Jenny Fay
Photos: Pedal4Pierce