Overall Taupo 2016 was a great year for many OTBers with lots of Personal Bests being set in great conditions for riding. Special mention for the Enduro Riders - with Karen and Janet taking out age group first places and Graeme taking 4th place in his age group.
For the 160km we had Rebecca Owen 3rd in age group at 4:55 and Steve Strain 3rd in age group at 4:10
While the Mountain Bikers in the Steamer also did very well with Phil Orchard 1st in the 60 to 69 age category with a time of 4:39:53 (without breaking into a sweat) and James Betteridge (aka Slipper) was 2 seconds slower to pick up 2nd in age group.
There were a number of hard luck stories on the day but timing wise this year the award goes to Neil Holden with a 5:00:26! However, don't give up Neil - last year Ian Harris had a 5:01:00 and this year a 4:52:15 so it just needs that wee bit more training.
Also of course a special mention for Andrew Elliston and Mike O'Sullivan who rode the lake, literally, on Tuesday for the Heart Kids. https://cycleforheartkids2016.everydayhero.com/nz/rickshaw-andy. All up the lake crossing raised in the order of $17,000 for Hearts Kids, special mention must go to Mike O’Sullivan and Ric Holmes who made significant contributions. Andrew's daughter Brook has put togther a great video of the crossing which is a must see , click here to watch it.
Finally congratulations to everyone for participating - as someone once said "No matter what time you did it was still faster than someone sitting on the couch in front of the television!"
The results can be viewed here and photos from the day and awards evening can be viewed here
Taupo 2016
