Clear blue skies provided a beautiful day for the third annual Outside Sports Alpine Classic.

The Queenstown to Wanaka and return cycle race drew a strong field of cyclists, with riders coming from as far as Auckland to take part in the challenge of riding over the Crown Range and back.

Steve Scott (Open Men) from Christchurch was fastest over the course in a time of 4:06:36, closely followed by Lester Settle (Veteran Men), Christchurch, in a time of 4:06:58. Third placed rider was local Queenstowner Mark Williams (Open Men) in a time of 4:07:28, beating Stuart Lowe and Paul Sumich in a sprint finish.

Ollie Rolton of Christchurch took out the new category of Senior Veteran (over 50 yrs) in a time of 4:23:50.

In the teams section Liz and James Williamson from Alexandra, won the Mixed Teams in 4:35:29, while Ginny Bush (Wanaka) and Melanie Eccles (Queenstown) took line honours for first placed female team in 5:06:11.

Paul Sumich of Auckland, narrowly beating Blair Lasenby of Invercargill in a time of 1:15:39, took King of the Mountain title for first to the top of the Crown Range.

In a prize-giving ceremony held at the Pig and Whistle last night Steve Scott, winner of the individual open men section, was presented with a beautiful Jade trophy designed a carved by Goldfields Jewellers in Queenstown.

Race organiser Jane McCurdy said that the race was a great success and that she "would like to thank all the riders, the race marshals and the sponsors for helping to make the Outside Sports Alpine Classic the success that it was."

Outside Sports, Doctor Bike, The Wakatipu Cycle Club, AJ Gear, Isofuel, The Duplicator, Spy Sunglasses, TA Design, The Cardrona Hotel, Met Helmets, The Pig & Whistle and Hydrapak all supported the 2003 Outside Sports Alpine Classic.


Click here for the full results.