Gerringong rider faces big task

JOEL RITCHIE

STAYING awake for 24 hours is hard enough – imagine doing it while riding a mountain bike for up to 440km.

That is something Gerringong’s Mark Fenner will have to achieve at the 24-Hour Mountain Biking World Championships in July.

Fenner, 37, will race in the solo 24-hour ultra endurance event, which will be held in Canada.

He needs to raise $5000 to cover accommodation and flights by the end of the month.

Anyone who supports Fenner will not only be helping him realise his World Championships dream – the Scot’s College PDH/PE coordinator and outdoor specialist is willing to offer motivational talks to supporters.

Fenner should talk the talk, as he walks the walk – a teacher at Scot’s College Glengarry Campus in Kangaroo Valley, he has taken a term’s unpaid leave to train for the World Championships.

His weekly regimen includes a total of 24 hours on the bike and covers 1000km.

The staple of his training diet is riding from home to work and back.

However, on days off, Fenner often rides for eight hours, sometimes from home to Canberra and back or a circuit to Jervis Bay.

Fenner has qualified for the past three World Championships but time, work and financial demands conspired to deny him his dream.

He qualified for this year’s World Championships by coming fourth at the National 24-hour Solo Ultra Endurance race in Mount Stromlo, ACT in 2007.

Fenner has never finished outside the top five in a 24-hour solo race and won pairs gold at the Scott 24-hour race at Mount Stromlo late last year.

“I stay motivated by breaking up the 24 hours into smaller goals, for example my first goal is making it to midnight - I consume a very high amount of calories in this time to stop me hitting the wall and blowing up,” Fenner said.

If you are interested in helping Fenner compete for Australia at the World Championships in 2008 please contact him or his wife Sally on 4234 0503 or 0405 339 423.