The 2010 edition of the Singapore Mountainbike Carnival took place from the 29th to 30th of May 2010 at the newly-reopened Tampines Bike Park in the northeastern part of Singapore. The bike park features almost 10km of trails, with 3.5km being located within a fenced area that will form the Mountainbike venue for the Youth Olympic Games in August. The park also features a world-class BMX race track which also will serve as a venue for the Youth Olympic Games for the BMX event.

Juniors XCO Race Taking Off. Photo@ Dirtraction

The carnival played host to 5 main events, a UCI Category 3 Juniors XCO (Cross Country) race, a UCI Category 5 Juniors BMX race, a mountainbike BSX (Bicycle Supercross) race, an Offroad Time Trial and last but not least - the highlight of the carnival - the 12 Hour Mountainbike Night Marathon.

Not to be missed was also the Bike Demo Day, where bikes from brands like BMC, Polygon and Avanti were available for test riding, as well as the carnival itself which featured vendor booths from local distributors and shops, displaying products ranging from saddles to suspension forks, to energy supplements.

The Juniors XCO race saw participation from various countries like Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, and of course the host country Singapore. A total of 17 riders took to the start for the Junior Mens race, with Thai rider Satjakul SIANGLAM taking a surprise win, followed by Vadim GALEYEV from Kazakhstan and Idomu YAMAMOTO from Japan. The Junior Womens category saw 7 riders, with Elga Kharisma Novanda from Indonesia-East Java coming in first, followed by Manami Iwade from Japan and Indonesian rider Wilhelmina TUTUARIMA.

A Singapore Rider railing the mega turns of the newly build BMX track. Photo @DirTraction

The BMX race was participated by riders from Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Singapore. A total of XX motos were raced, which were mostly dominated by riders from the Japanese contingent. The Junior Mens race was pretty much wrapped up by the top 3 Japanese riders, Yoshitaku Watanabe, Jukia Yoshimura and Ryosuke Furuhata in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The Junior Womens race however, played witness to a slightly different turn of events. While Japanese rider Kaede Watanabe clinched the top spot followed by Indonesian rider Kharisma Novanda Elga, 3rd place was a closely fought battle between Singapore's Nur Nasthasia Nadiah and Japanese rider Manami Iwade,where photo-finish placed Nur Nasthasia at 3rd place, giving Singapore an unexpected but sweet podium.

Ian Krempl (Middle) and Hong Chun (right) in constant air battle. Photo@ DirTraction

The BSX race, which took place right after the BMX was a mostly local affair, giving a chance to mountainbike riders to test the newly completed BMX track. The participants were varied, ranging from riders as young as 15 to 30, riding a host of different variants of mountainbikes from full-suspension specialist fourcross bikes to fully-rigid street-style hardtails. Two categories were contested, Juniors and Open - with the Juniors being won by Alex Sheesby, followed by William CHAN and Foo Jun Hao. The
Open category was won by Singaporean national downhill riders Tan Hong Chun, Ian Krempl and Irvin Tan with much style, flair and big air as opposed to the previous BMX race where riders focused more on staying close to the ground and squashing the jumps.

Anuar Manan (Geumsan Ginseng Asia) traded sprint for offroad racing, shadowed closely by Shahrom Abdullah(Monavie-Cannondale) Photo@ DirTraction

The Offroad Time Trial which was an event specially held for the kids, took place in between the qualifying and race motos of the BMX race. Four categories were contested - Juniors A, Juniors B, Kids C and Kids D. Where the youngest rider in the race, Stewart McNab from Malaysia stole much attention from the crowd with his earnest efforts at completing the 1.5km distance, no mean feat for a 3-year old.

Ideal weather and dry conditions bode well for the 12 Hour Mountainbike Marathon that took place from 5pm Saturday 29th May to 5am the next day. A total of 350 riders participated in the race, divided into Mens Solo, Womens Solo, Mens Duo, Mixed Duo, Mens Quad and Mixed Quad categories.

Notable entries such as Team Maverick, Pico-Bikelabz, Cannasia-MonaVie-Cannondale and Chiru Endurance Team were present, as were other dark horses like the Filipino Yakap-Pinoy team, Token-KTCC-Puncacipta team from Malaysia, and local clubs Five-O and ANZA Cycling. Participation was a varied affair with riders coming from all around Asia, Australasia and beyond, proving that the annual race was starting to make ripples outside of the immediate region and perhaps signaling the beginnings of a truly classic Asian mountainbike event.

The race flagged off on time, and over 150 riders dashed through the first 2 straights, racing for the bottleneck entry to the singletrack section. The first half of the race track took place on the Youth Olympics section of the trail, before heading back to the open area near the start line, going through the feed and transition zone, then out the gates to the second half of the race route which took place in the unfenced portion of the park. Both halves differ greatly in riding style, with the Youth Olympics section being much tighter, yet flowy with generous banked turns, rollers and various rock sections, which are all handbuilt. The outer section is a lot less sanitized, with rocky climbs and descents, clay singletrack, and long stretches of fireroads. A crash into the bush also means a meeting with a local pest flora, the prickly Mimosa or Touch-me-not, which features leaves that fold inwards upon touch, as well as plenty of thorns.

Intense start at the 5pm flag off for the 12hrs Mountain Bike Night Marathon. Photo@ Dirtraction

As the race wore on, some riders started cramping, perhaps signaling a lack of warm-up or sufficient intake of fluids. Thankfully, any major crashes were averted, perhaps in part thanks to the fully moonlit night. The feed and transition zone was a flurry of activity, with various riders and teams either refilling their hydration equipment, passing their timing chips to teammates or just plain resting.

The neutral technical support tent, kindly staffed by local bike shop L&T Cycles and suspension tuners AG Suspension was also kept busy with broken chains and other assorted mechanical issues. Many teams were observed making themselves comfortable - some had hot food ready, while others had gone to the trouble of hiring a masseuse for the night.

Predictably, the momentum wore down as the race went on into the wee hours of the morning, but as the race drew closer to the cut-off time for the last lap at 4:15am, a fresh wave of energy surged through the crowd, with teams yelling at their riders to hurry to the feed zone and through the gate before it closed. As the gate closed at 4:15 sharp, a few riders made a futile dash towards the feed zone. A hint of dejection could be detected, only to be replaced by relief as they realized that at least their ordeal was finally over.

In the end, the Mens Solo race was won by Filipino Nilo Pedrozo Estayo of Team Yakap-Pinoy, followed by his compatriots and teammates Eusebio Zaldua Quinones and Alvin Abanil Benosa. The Womens Solo winner was Dennex Lui of Hong Kong followed by Chow Sian May and Priscilla Chen.

The Mens Duo title was taken by the Chiru Endurace team of Pierre Le Magnan and Cosmo Richards, followed by the Cannasia-Mona Vie-Cannondale team of Nathan Baltoski and Richard Sinclair, and the Cannondale-ANZA team of Fraser Morrison and Tim Clarsen. The Mixed Duo category saw local domination, with the PICO-BikeLabz team of Tan Yeow Chung and Noor Aizan Alias taking the win, followed by team Five-O consisting of Michael Maxwell and Louise Donaldson and the Singapore Bike Hash team of Tim Magee and Wendy Lee.

The biggest category, the Mens Quad saw Team Maverick comprising of Paul Moir, Pat Brunsdon, Michael Tighe and Ashley Howlett taking the win, followed by Team Token-KTCC-Puncacipta consisting of Azizulazli Shaari, Mohd Arif Syukri, Mohd Nor Umardi and Mohd Shafari from Malaysia, and the ANZA Fireflys, consisting of Andrew Bell, Richard Paine, Paul Reyburn and Julian Gorman. The Mixed Quad category was won by PICO-Bikelabz, comprising Samuel Yang, Mariana Mohamad, Nur Amirul Fakharuddin, and Khiarol, followed by team Hammer n's Tongs in second, consisting of Victor Young, Jeff Drewitz, Lynda Scott, and Martin Gilliland. Team Cyclorum.com, consisting of Ellery Png, Joshua Png, Daniel Koh and Zahara Anuar
came in third.

Event Website at: http://Singapore MTBCarnival.com

Want to contribute to the Asia cycling community? Drop us a line! You can choose how you stay in touch with cyclingnewsasia:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Contact us directly