Colombian hill climber Carlos Lara showed there ''ain't no mountain high enough'' to concern him when he won the Scroggs Hill time trial on Saturday.
The club charted new territory in running the second race of the hill series over Scroggs Hill, most riders having never been treated to the 7km climb, which ends with a particularly gruelling 1km pinch.
The reward was a stunning view over the Taieri Plain and the coast past Brighton.
Lara, a 33-year-old PhD student who is an acclaimed ornithologist, recently returned from six weeks in Colombia and was keen to test his climbing.
Saturday's race was a close shave as he clocked 16min 48sec, just nudging out the rapidly improving John Wansink (16) by 1sec.
Wansink is proving he will be a force in the future. He was 28sec faster than training partner Kees Duyvesteyn (16), winner of race one of the hill series.
Next fastest was masters rider Stu Crooks in 18min 11sec, and he had 9sec on Chris Harvey.
Fastest woman was Ella Harris (15), who posted a sharp 19min 53sec. To her annoyance, this was 33sec slower than her father, Graham. Ella Harris was ninth fastest in the field of 30 and all riders broke 29min.
Mountain biker Mary Gray recorded 20min 39sec, while Erin Greene, recently back from Iron Bike, an international seven-day mountain biking enduro event in Italy, finished in 23min 12sec.
Christchurch rider Jason Allen, winner of last week's Benchmark race in Ashburton, found out what Dunedin hills are all about, crossing in 19min 14sec.
Triathlete Alex Dodds, recovering from a recent fall, managed the hill one-armed.
- Jan Brosnahan
