By Margaret Maccoll
It was a different King of the Mountain last Sunday, according to organising committee chair Heather Manders, but “a really good day“.
After missing last year’s event because of Covid and ongoing restrictions, the Cooroy-Pomona Lions Club event, the 2021 Pomona King of the Mountain, was scaled back to focus on the races and reduce the financial outlay in case Covid led to its cancellation.
“This year was a chance to have a smaller scale event and see how it works,“ Heather said.
There were 50 competitors in the mountain bike race, 64 competitors in the Prince and Princess race and 93 entered into the main race.
“Everyone got behind the racers,“ Heather said.
As they lined up for the race, each competitor was acknowledged and cheered on.
The winner was 32-year-old Spaniard Jorge Hernaez Navarro in a time of 27mins 11secs. Jorge came to Noosa from Spain to learn English, expecting to remain only six months but has now been in Australia for almost two years.
The first woman over the line was Leslie Saunders. It was the third time the 50-year-old Pomona State School teacher who also organises the Prince and Princess race had taken the title of Queen of the Mountain.
Heather said a couple of people pulled out of the race because of injury, a few were stuck in lockdown and the usual New Zealand competitors weren’t there, but most people who entered came along.
The youngest entrant was 13-year-old Buderim student Max Penny who was following in his dad’s footsteps. Max aimed to run it faster than his dad, Sam, and score bragging rights at home.
The King of the Mountain would have been a walk in the park for the oldest competitor. Frank Falappi, 81, was running his third King of the Mountain. Frank competes in ultra marathons of 50-100km in both Australia and New Zealand.
