Mertens alongside Mark Windsor (Bathurst), Gareth Fuller (Mudgee) and Sally Wallace (Orange) were all named winners of the MVP after winning all four of their respective age division races across the four-race series.

For Mertens, she also won the Dubbo MVP for the season ahead of Ben Orford and Bryce Foley who finished in second and third respectively.

Club secretary and competitor Orford said it is a wonderful achievement not only for Mertens but for the whole club as well.

"It was good for her, I think we ended up coming second in our home event to Mudgee," he said.

"They ended taking out the overall title so that gave us two seconds and two fourths for the year, which is pretty good.

"We were right on the heels of Bathurst but they did so well at our own home event that we couldn't match it."

The Hippos' season came to an end on the weekend as the club held a handicap event which was the last race for the season and Orford said it was an entertaining spectacle, to say the least.

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"Like the Melbourne Cup you never know who is going to win until the last couple of minutes because obviously, the slower people get a head start," he said.

"It was quite entertaining, I think all but three people did a PB (personal best) because they were all trying to catch the person in front of them.

"We had about 17 people go around and it was just an entertaining day."

While Dubbo finished fourth in the overall club standings, Orford is confident the club can keep getting bigger and better over the next few years with a few more participants expected to join.

"I think we are still in a growing phase, we are chipping away every year," he said.

"We've actually got on the podium this year with two-second places so if we get a few more of them then we will be right up there.

"We just have a bit of an issue where we have a core group of about 10 to 15 but that can't always make every event.

"So we are a bit smaller than the other clubs, they might have 30 who can travel and we've only got half that amount."

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