Representing Royal Bikes, where they both work, Worrall and Burchell crossed the finish line arm-in-arm, with marshals having to split the two. Ultimately it was 18-year-old Worrall who was handed the official honour of inaugural winner of the men's 16-39-year-old category.

Burchell, 37, said it was a special feeling to cross the line with Worrall after a four hour and 11 minute journey over gravel from Forrest.

Worrall said they worked as a team, sticking together and helping each other with bottles and chasing back up.

Burchell said the route was a reminder of how pretty the south-west was.

"The rolling hills, around Simpson and Timboon was really good, you get up the top of the ridge and see all the rain forest," he said. "It made for a really good backdrop for a fairly solid day on the bike."

Worrall said the Dirty Warrny was a great event to participate in and hoped to see it back "bigger and better" next year.

"For the first event, super well organised," he said. "All the organisers have done a really good job marking out the course, picking a really good route, lots of hill, super scenic and heaps of numbers. For an inaugural race to get that many numbers is really impressive."

Worrall is now looking to race in the NRS, including the Tour of Tasmania and Tour of Bright in coming weeks, before the National Championships in early January.

Meanwhile, Woodend's Harry Willen was first over the line in the elite category but admits a solo journey was mentally and physically exhausting.

He said riding the Dirty Warrny was "absolutely amazing" but would not recommend doing it solo.

"I wouldn't do that again," he said. "After 100km in, it was a bit of a slug fest to get to the end.

"At the start of the race, there was a pretty decent climb and I went up that at a good pace and found myself alone for 80km after that.

"It was very hard."

Willen said he didn't realise he had won at first, with Worrall and Burchell riding ahead yet in a different category.

The 18-year-old is currently finishing year 12 and said a recent stint overseas with a small racing team reignited his passion for the sport.

"Before COVID I was doing a lot of racing but then a lot of things shut down," he said. "I was training pretty hard for the first 12 weeks of COVID and after that it became a bit too much."

He said he struggled to get back on the bike before heading to Belgium for six weeks. Despite getting COVID-19 himself in week two, he said the experience was an eye-opener.

"I came back and had so much motivation from then on," he said. "It was an awesome experience over there.

"They just foster and look after you really well."

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