The third Baba Dag Mountain bike hill climb took place in Fethiye, Turkey on the 10th October 2010 and local riders did well.

Babadag Mountain above Oludeniz became more than just a jumping off point for paragliders on Sunday 10th October 2010 when it hosted more than 60 cyclists for a mountain bike climb challenge.

This UCI Class 2 registered event was defined as a cross-country race but in reality it was a leg grinding, lung busting 18 kilometre uphill ride to the summit of the ‘Father Mountain’.

Local mountain biker and keen cyclist John Young (left on the picture) took part in the event.

Now in his early fifties he was up against cyclists in the senior’s category. However, as John points out, seniors in this game are over 30’s – its a young man’s sport evidently!

The winning time was approximately 1 hour and 14 minutes and John managed to arrive at the top in less than two hours in 1 hour and 57 minutes.

John said,

“I was very pleased with my time and even more pleased that I didn’t get off my bike at any stage of the race. In places the track was not only very steep but also quite slippery with the gravel so staying on was an achievement.”

He continued,

“It's a great challenge and I would recommend it to all cyclists.”

Other local riders did well in the race too with Tugay Selcuk (16) from Fethiye taking 2nd place in the Cadet category with his 2 hours and 10 second time.

Levent Sunger from Dalyan (43) took 4th place in the senior’s category with a time of 1hour 54 seconds.

Thank you to John for the photo.