Contributor Article

Debut winners and defending champions have stood on the top step of the podium as the latest Reef to Reef finished on iconic Four Mile Beach just a short time ago.

Riders started the final stage at Mount Molloy, made their way through stunning Tropical North Queensland scenery before hitting the famous Bump Track for a fast and furious descent to the beach.

The 46km stage finished with a blast up Four Mile Beach to the finish line.

Joel Green and Tali Lane Welsh continued to lead the way in the men’s pairs, with the duo claiming overall victory in their first visit to Reef to Reef.

Green and Lane Welsh crossed the finish line in Port Douglas almost five minutes clear of Cameron Wright and Aden De Jager, with Lachlan Allison and Benjamin Iles third.

The top three finishers today were mirrored on the overall podium, with Green and Lane Welsh almost 17 minutes ahead of second, with third a further five minutes behind.

Lane Welsh said that the overall victory was special for the pair.

“It’s pretty big for us, it’s the second event of the Epic Series that we’ve done, we raced Cape to Cape last year, as soon as we did that we knew how awesome they were and we were pretty committed to do as many as we could,” he said.

“We booked in for this one and coming into it we didn’t have any crazy expectations, we just wanted to do as good as we could, we have some good form at the moment so we’re pretty happy to take the win.”

Defending mixed pairs champions Emma Viotto and Karl Michelin-Beard made it back-to-back Reef to Reef titles, with the duo leading the event from start to finish.

Viotto and Michelin-Beard took the title by more than 10 minutes from Kirsty McCallum and Max Williams, with Michael Denton and Emily Hill rounding out the podium.

Michelin-Beard said they enjoyed the descent back to the coast from the Mount Molloy start line.

“It always feels good to win, these races are always good for us, a nice holiday away but it feels good to win, I think we’ve both naturally competitive people so winnings feels good,” he said.

Mother and daughter duo Meaghan Stanton and Zoe Binder dominated the women’s pairs, claiming the title by almost an hour from Karis Aplin and Sarah Dunnage. Alex Hall and Kathryn Deed finished third overall 10 minutes further behind.