On Boxing Day in 1995, Mike Gane and Barry Chamberlain mountainbiked from St Arnaud through the old stock driving route to Hanmer Springs.
When they were sitting in the pub afterwards enjoying “the best pie and pint we’d ever had” Mike says they agreed the ride would be “a bloody good idea for an event”. The following year, the “bloody good idea” became a reality when Mike organised the first Rainbow Rage mountainbike race from St Arnaud to Hanmer Springs.
Sixty-six riders competed in the 106km race and although it was cold and wet with a bone-chilling head wind, the riders raved about it and entries increased dramatically to a peak of 1604 in 2001. Although numbers have fluctuated since then it still remains extremely popular with many riders notching up 10 or more Rainbow Rages and around 500 riders expected at this year’s 20th edition.
“At the prizegiving last year, I asked riders who had done 10 or more Rainbow Rages to put up their hands and I was surprised at how many there were,” Mike says. “We even had one rider, Ian Gabites, who had done it 15 times.
“There’s also been quite a few families doing it together. Last year, the fastest woman, Olivia Miller, was racing against her father, Tim.”
Of course there have always some riders who have needed more of a challenge than simply riding 106 kilometres. Nelson’s world marathon mountainbike champion Tim Vincent rode a 1937 Swiss army bike weighing a hefty 20 kilograms in 2008, Wellington’s Ken Looi rode a unicycle in 2005 while multisport racers Richard and Elina Ussher completed a double Rainbow Rage in 2012 riding back to St Arnaud into a strong headwind just minutes after after arriving at the finish in Hanmer Springs.
Some of the country’s biggest cycling names have also lined up in the Rainbow Rage. Tim dominated the event from 2002 to 2006 while his Swiss wife, Sandy Kunz won the women’s race from 2004 to 2007.
Multisport legend Nathan Fa’avae, who won the inaugural race, and Tour de France riders Jack Bauer and Nathan Dahlberg have also taken line honours.
Saturday’s 20th Rainbow rage also promises to be fast and furious at the business end of the field with Tim Filmer, who set the record of 3 hours 26 minutes 18seconds in 2012 lining up against last year’s winner Henry Jaine and Nathan Fa’avae.
But the Rainbow Rage is not just about the speedsters. Above all, it is an adventure ride and that’s what Mike believes has made it one the country’s most iconic mountainbike events.
“It’s not a race, it’s a ride,” Mike insists. “We called it a race the first year we did it but the next year we changed it to an adventure ride with the emphasis on participation and it took off.
“It’s a ride that anyone, with a reasonable level of fitness, can do and I think most people just enjoy treating it as a personal challenge rather than a race.”
As well as the personal challenge and amazing camaraderie that riders experience on their journey, Mike says the other big appeal is the spectacular and constantly changing scenery.
Riders wind their way through pristine beech forests and climb into vast subalpine highcountry, over Island Saddle and alongside the Clarence River before ascending Jacks Pass and then plunging six kilometres and 620 vertical metres down to the finish at Hanmer Springs Domain.
The Rainbow Rage will be held this Saturday starting at 9am.
