Makara World Cup

Football has Wembley Stadium, Rugby has Twickenham stadium, Cricket has the MCG, but mountain biking has Makara Peak. It is at this hallowed turf that mountain bikers go into battle at the annual Makara Peak World Cup, Bushlove mounted a strong team to take on one and all.

First Round – Creek to Peak relay

Bushlove got off to a flying start with Angry bursting down the wing to be first into the single track. He proceeded to block the competition for as long as possible, before settling into a support role. BGA picked up the ball for Bushlove but was chasing the star player of Roadwork's T-Rex and Revolution’s Jonty. The game was close as half time rolled round. BGA and Slacky stayed on field for the second half, but Angry was substituted out for Tiger.

With fresh legs Tiger sprinted up the field, but his laces (aka drivetrain) came undone allowing Slacky to put his set piece in play for the final descent. BGA was coasting along, defending position when just before the half time whistle; Slackboy sprinted down the line as BGA dropped the ball.

Tiger rolled in with his laces still undone, to take the points with Angry for the M1 and M2 team class (what a shame there wasn’t this category at this tournament). Kah took the full back position for Bushlove and made sure there were no early exits from the field this week.

After the first round, it was podiums all round but no win yet for Bushlove. Revolution stole the early glory in the teams event with T-Rex the man of the match in the individual.

Between games, the players and supporters tucked into some yummy chocolates….

...and gingernuts

The grand final – Makara Peak Rally

Davo, who had been dropped for this tournament, revved the team up for the grand final. It was up to Mono and Mr Ed to lift the game and bring home the silverware.

Mono and Mr Ed got off to a good start; they were working well as a team. Even when Mr Ed almost got carried away down the Leaping Lizard line Mono made sure there were no rules broken and keep both of them in game.

Coming into the final crucial part of the game, they could see Alex Revell charging down the line towards them. Mr Ed and Mono stayed together and entered the final descent to the line together. They had a gap on Alex, but who would touchdown across the line? It was going to be close. Just before the line, Mr Ed dropped the ball just like BGA had done earlier in the tournament. Mono saw his chance for glory and charged across the line taking all the high fives and glory of the match winning move. It was glory for Bushlove, but Mono was the man of the match with his last minute heroics over Mr Ed.

The play of the day award goes to...

Rose and Jackson on the Tandem. If you thought Trickle Falls and Vertigo were hard, try riding it on a tandem!

It was a tough tournament, but Makara was the winner on the day. The Bushlove team would like to thank all the touch judges and umpires (aka volunteers), the awesome groundskeepers (aka track work parties) and of course those who made this tournament happen.

And of course: full credit to the opposition.

Bushlove words of wisdom: Why join a boring gym when you can get a workout with good sorts and make some more mint singletrack! Earn some track karma, join a work party!