Sport
6 February, 2025
Mark O'Brien reveals what it means and what it takes to win cycling classic
It's life-changing but hard work to take out the top spot.
To win a 'Warrny' is simply life-changing - just ask last year's winner of the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool, Mark O'Brien.
O'Brien grew up in Horsham and often made his way to the coast with his Dad to watch the famous race but had to wait until his mid-30s to take the title.
"For the stars to align, was such an unexpected and amazing outcome. It feels like it cemented my place in Australian cycling history," O'Brien said.
"Now, as defending champion, I'm heading in with the goal of going back-to-back. It took me 13 years to finally get the win, so I'm quite realistic, however, I will be giving it my all."
Tristan Saunders won the year before, in 2023, and the victory is seared into his memory banks
"Riding solo up Raglan Parade soaking it all in as the locals cheered me in, it was an amazing day that I will never forget," he said.
"Achieving one of my dreams in the sport was everything I imagined it to be and more, but you must be smart enough to make all the crucial moves in the race without wasting a single bit of your energy."
This year, Saunders will give it a red-hot go again as part of Team Brennan, managed by 2007 Warrny winner Tim Decker, who vividly recalls his triumph.
"The memories I have are a lot of joy and relief," he said.
"I was in a good place to give it my best shot, and it came together on the day."
Two-time winner of the women's event Matilda Raynolds knows what it takes to secure the title, and has stood on the podium four times in five attempts.
"No one man or woman wins this race without suffering. There's no sitting in the wheels all day, saving yourself for a final sprint," she said.
"To have this race as part of my cycling palmarès is one of my proudest achievements."
Raynolds has bridged the change of being one of a number of women who raced with the men initially, to racing in the stand-alone Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women's Cycling Classic, started in 2022.
"There was an unspoken understanding on that 2022 start line: we had to deliver," she said.
"We had to show women deserved this race, that we could make it a spectacle. And we did."
Peta Mullens is a multiple national champion and was the first woman home in 2019, racing with the men and crossing the line in the 38th spot overall.
"Winning it was special, and I'm grateful that I got to experience the mass start," she said.
"Organisers had made a conscious effort to get as many women as possible that year. The last female finisher was 18 years old and had been dropped after 30km.
She towed a group of men all day ... and that was Sarah Gigante! That's definitely a ride that I'll forever be inspired by."
It takes many things to win a Warrny, and life is never the same afterwards - it's an addictive but brutal test as the veteran O'Brien warns.
"There are years where it's a relatively easy day that favours the sprinters, but some years you are getting put in the gutter in the first 20km, and you're battling from the first to the last hour on your hands and knees, although within days I am keen for the next one," he said.