Tag: sports

Ketam 4hr MTB Enduro Race

Located around the edge of a quarry on the island of Pulau Ubin, a five minute bumboat ride from Changi point ferry terminal is the Ketam Mountain bike park.  The park played host to the Ketam 4hr Enduro MTB race and the Cannasia MTB team had 3 individual riders and 2 Mens Duo Teams entered.

Cannasia had a very successful day with Shahrom Bin Abdullah proving to be the strongest of the individual riders over the 4hrs and Nathan and Fraser came 2nd in the Mens Duo competition.  It was a real mixed bag of competitors and here are a few images from the day.

Cannasia MTB racing weapons.

Cannasia-Cannondale: Tim Clarsen

I’m currently working on a small project to document some of my team mates in our road cycling and mountain bike team Cannasia-Cannondale.  First up is Tim Clarsen.

Tim was the joint leader of the team but has recently moved to Norway with his family – I managed to squeeze in a shoot just prior to him packing up his bikes and heading off.  Tim is a very talented rider with years of experience both on and off the road, having raced in many countries around the world.  This experience enabled him to lead the team through training and ultimately onto the podium many times.  Some recent results include 1st Masters Men OCBC Criterium, 1st Open Men Cyclone Race Series Road Cycling Ranking and 1st Open Men Cyclone Series Mountbatten Criterium.  We’ve already heard he has had a couple of real “leg busters” in Norway, so here’s hoping he gets his climbing legs back real soon.

Tanglin Halt Criterium

The Tanglin Halt Criterium was the first cycling event in the 2011 Dirtraction Cyclone Race Series held here in Singapore.  Finally a circuit that resembled the type of club criteriums I’m used to racing back in New Zealand.  Clear skies and a dry track ensured a great turn out for the event and some great racing as a result.  I only had time to shoot the Masters Men and the Open Women’s races due to my own race schedule.  The new ANZA Racing team “The Mavericks” controlled the race from the start, however a last minute attack on the back straight of the last lap saw the Mavericks pipped at the post by Life Extensions and Pico Bike Labz riders. The Open Women’s race was quickly reduced down to 5 riders consisting of 3 Pico Labz girls, one ANZA rider and our only Cannasia-Cannondale female rider, Gabi. The Pico Labz girls did their best to attack Gabi over 39 minutes of racing but she held on to place second on the podium with Megan Kinder taking third in her first criterium event for ANZA.  Here a few images from the racing.

OCBC Pro Criterium – Singapore

OCBC Cycle Singapore 2011 took place over the weekend and the highlight for me was the Professional Criterium held under lights around the F1 pit building on Saturday night.  The race was sure to be a real nail biter with a star studded field and huge prize money up for grabs.  With riders like Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer and Pure Black Racing from New Zealand, I was anticipating a fast pace right the the gun, and I wasn’t disappointed.

90minutes of hard racing with constant attacks finally came down to a sprint finish after the break was caught in the last few hundred meters.  Italian neo-pro Omar Bertazzo of the Androni Giocattoli team pipped the two Australian’s Dean Windsor (Rapha Condor-Sharp) and Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo) for the win.  It was his first professional win of his career.

We had four members of Team Cannasia-Cannondale racing, however after a galent effort they were retired from the race along with many other riders half their age just prior to being lapped.

Cyclone Race Series Team Time Trial

Due to my aversion to Time Trials I volunteered to take photos for the Team Cannasia-Cannondale website at this event. We had 4 teams entered and placings to defend in both the Open Mens and Mixed Duo categories.  With some pretty hot competition it was shaping up to be an interesting morning.  Credit should be given to all the riders and the effort put in by all participants was great to watch.  Cannasia-Cannondale came away with two first places and a second place, but unfortunately a flat tire robbed the Open Mens Duo of a podium place. Congratulations to Tim Clarsen (Cannasia-Cannondale) for taking out the Race Series Points Jersey.

Singapore National Individual Time Trial Championship

Waking to torrential rain in the early hours put some what of a dampener on the enthusiasm to go and shoot this event.  However Gabi was racing and so was Team Cannasia, the cycle racing team we are members of.  By the time we arrived at the venue the skies had cleared and we were looking forward to the racing.  Approximately 170 competitors of various levels turned out to race in this inaugural event.  Gabi competed in the Open Women, Joshua Png rode in the Juniors and the remainder of the team was spread out over the Open Men and Masters categories.  Variable wind conditions over the length of the course took it’s toll on the times, but I can say they gave it their all.  You can read a brief race report here.  Below is a selection of images taken of my team mates and other competitors in action out on the course.

Fast and Furious at Mountbatten

As the title of this blog suggests the Criterium held at the Mountbatten car park was an intense morning of cycle racing.  Each rider had to contend with riding in one heat race prior to reaching the final.  Due to the nature of the course, a tight bottle shape with one hair pin bend and 4 corners to negotiate, positioning, confidence, strength and speed would determine the eventual winners.  As an added extra incentive to perform the organizers introduced an elimination rule. After 5-10 neutral laps the last rider over the line was eliminated until only three riders remained. This was a great idea as it encouraged some great break aways and chases as riders tried to avoid elimination. Team Cannasia had a very successful morning taking out 1st and 2nd in the Open Men, 1st in the Open Women and 2nd and 4th in the Masters Men. You can read their race report here. Below is a small selection of photos as I was racing.  My partner in crime, Gabi, took 1 or 2 of these so I would like to credit her for her photos.

Welcome to the Jungle

As the rain set in we all knew we were in for a hard slog around the 7km circuit of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for the Singapore National MTB Champs.  These images are of the Men’s Open Category.  I had raced earlier in the Masters Category and was keen to get some photo’s of the fast boys, including 5 members of our cycling team Cannasia-Cannondale.  We took all 3 podium positions aswell as 5th place thanks to the efforts of Tim Wilkins, Shahrom Abdullah, Fraser Morrison and Tim Clarsen, respectively. Fourth place was taken by the 2010 Singaporean National Champion and unfortunately our fifth member, Robert Hensby, decided to dismount his bike over the front handle bars in the first 2km and had to retire from the race. Congratulations should also go to Richard Sinclair from the Cannasia-Cannondale team who took first place in the Masters Category. Shooting proved challenging with low light conditions, heavy rain and thousands of mosquitos that decided to gather on me the moment I stood still.