6 September 2009

Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships 2009

| Kramer
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I’m a little sad it’s over, but Canberra turned on some spectacular spring weather and the competition has been awesome. It’s been great showing off our city and trails to the many interstate & overseas visitors – most of whom liked what they saw.

Crowd at Triple Treat


This morning saw the final practice for the downhill competitors. Shortly after the short track cross country womens and mens races (which are not an official World Champs event – no medal & jersey awarded), were run. Canberra lad, Ben Henderson put in a very good effort in the mens, but he finished behind the money positions.

In the event village, in the mens 26″ trials, following a very close competition and a count back of points, Frenchman Gilles Coustellier took the gold medal and rainbow jersey.

Up the mountain the gravity addicts were hard at work for the downhill finals. In the junior mens and womens finals, New Zealander Brook MacDonald and Frenchwoman Anais Pajot scored the titles. In the elite womens class, another Frenchwoman was in the lead, with Emmeline Ragout stomping the field with a 2.49 second lead. In the elite mens class, it was very tight with the top 4 riders within 1 second of each other. Unfortunately the best placed Aussie was Mick Hannah in 3rd, with a 0.69 second gap to the winner Steve Peat from the UK. Althought it would have been great to see an Aussie win, it was nice to see Steve finally get a World Champs win (after winning the most World Cup rounds of any rider in history, and placing second in numerous World Champs).

As I left the event village this evening the exhibitors were packing up, there were quite a few sunburnt people, the music was about to start, and people were heading to the bar. It has been a great week for mountain biking, especially Australian & Canberran mountain biking. Well done Canberra!

Here’s a clip of one of the elite women hammering through Triple Treat on the downhill today:

If the last week of bikes on dirt has whet your appetite, then check the CORC Site for upcoming events such as:
The Scott Australian 24 Hour MTB Championships at Stromlo
CORC Downhill race round 6 at Majura Pines on 25 October

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Fisho said :

What I’d like to see is a dedicated circuit around the Stromlo area for cyclists.

In the draft master plan there is a “12km road internal circuit” and an extension to the criterion track, but I doubt you could build anything with enough length and variation to keep them off the road.

I went to this on Sunday even though I’m not into mountain biking – I loved it! Caught the shuttle up to the top and then we made our way down slowly, stopping to see each rider hurtle past from a different vantage point.

Lots of laughs and funny people on the way down! Some a little drunk, some not 😛 But all had cowbells, bike frames, or whatever else they could use to make heaps of noise and cheer on the riders. Heaps of families… a boy of about 6 stopped next to me and was telling his Dad who the next rider was and where he was from 🙂

Up The Duffy said :

Just as well I attend as the coverage on TV was crap. Saturday the ABC whinged about not enough people attending the A-League Soccer Game, Well dar everyone had been at Mt Stromlo watching Australia clean up in the 4X World Cup. No wonder the TV and Newspapers are losing there out, in favour of the Internet.

Sitting on the hill watching the 4X (Four Cross) finals, me and a mate wondered how many would turn out to the A-League game. I later found out 5123. Shame that missed the best show in town.

The MTB World’s went off as one of THE best sporting events this city has ever hosted. It really was world class, and all of the event organisers and volunteers must be congratulated for running a fantastic event. WELL DONE!!

What I’d like to see is a dedicated circuit around the Stromlo area for cyclists.

While I don’t road cycle, and have no problems with being courteous to cyclists in the area there are many motorists that consider them a slow moving target. It’s popular, healthy and good fro the ACT in general (in terms of tourism)

And some cyclists really need to be saved from themselves. Ride without lights in the centre of the road on a foggy day why don’t you.

I think the Cotter/Uriarra/Stromlo area should be developed into a safe world class cycling arena in a way that the risk to cyclists is removed.

watched the highlights on sbs2 last night. absolutely amazing, really wish I could have gone to the event.

1 ruined pair of shoes, sore knees and ankles from climbing/descending the hill, scarred legs from the blackberry thorns, a much thinner wallet, a video camera full of dust and a sunburnt neck… what an AWESOME weekend!! Thoroughly enjoyable – kudos to the event organisers.

Watching the Elite Mens XC was utterly inspiring – the way they just glide over the obstacles is astounding, and some of them were hitting Cadaver Corner without even breathing heavily! Freaks! I went out to Sparrow on Sunday morning (like every other mountain biker in Canberra, apparently) and tried to replicate their calm and purposeful style, but of course I failed miserably.

The 4X finals were bloody amazing – the crowd was so pumped, then to have local legend Caroline Buchanan pull it off just blew everyone away.

Up The Duffy11:18 pm 06 Sep 09

Just as well I attend as the coverage on TV was crap. Saturday the ABC whinged about not enough people attending the A-League Soccer Game, Well dar everyone had been at Mt Stromlo watching Australia clean up in the 4X World Cup. No wonder the TV and Newspapers are losing there out, in favour of the Internet.

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