Potential Olympic cross country mountain bikers today made steps towards their selection for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Men’s defending national champion, Chris Jongewaard, claimed another victory while Dellys Starr stomped home in the women’s race held at Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra. With the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) recently announcing Australia as having one spot for female and one for male the competition is now beginning to heat up.
In the women's race, Melbourne's Commonwealth Games representative, Dellys Starr proved she was in a league of her own. Starr moved away from National Road Champion, Oenone Wood in the start lap and retained her lead for four laps of the 8.3 km circuit. Although not a selection race, Starr has now been placed in the shadow team.
Australian newly appointed cross country coach, Neil Ross, was impressed with Starr’s performance.
“With the World Cup season still ahead there remains other opportunities for women to achieve shadow squad qualification. If no one else qualifies then the only athlete on the shadow squad, Dellys, is first in line for the Olympic nomination,” said Ross.
Starr was leaving nothing to chance and made a break to finish the four laps in 1 hour 54.46 min.
“It’s impossible to take it easy if you take it easy you loose your spot and it’s so much harder to gain that back," stated Starr.
"It definitely wasn’t an easy race I was pushed the whole way and I was really impressed with the depth of the field."
Quietly confident, Starr was not expecting her final placing. “You can never expect anything. I knew I had good legs but once again I didn’t know whether they were good enough,” she added.
Chris Jongewaard was not challenged after the first lap of five. The defending national champion, found the technical sections suited him. The 28 year old from Adelaide finished the five lap course in 2 hr 2.12 min. Athens Olympian, Sid Taberlay, claimed second while Victorian Dan McConnell placed third.
“I just knew that I would have it over these guys on the technical sections,” admitted Jongewaard.
“I thought I’d give it a bit of a test on the first climb. Going down the descent I just gapped them. I rode my own race and went on with it.”
Although different to the women’s race, three of the men have already gained positions on the shadow team. Chris Jongewaard, Sid Taberlay and Daniel McConnell have already made it onto that team however gaining his second title has significance to Jongewaard personally.
“It’s a good feeling to win the title again,” he said.
There was close racing in the Under 23 division with Paul Van Der Ploeg beating Cal Brittan. Local favourite Ben Henderson claimed third.
Racing at the Toyota 2008 Australian Mountain Bike Championships continues with downhill. In the women's event world ranked number three, Tracey Hannah qualified ahead of Great Britain's Tracy Moseley ranked number two. The elite men seeding run today saw Bryn Atkinson qualify fastest while Nathan Rennie qualified second. In third spot is Canadian national champion, Steve Smith, while Canberra's Jared Rando and Amiel Cavalier gained fourth and fifth fastest today.
The of competition starts with the short course cross country followed by final for the elite downhill run will start at 2.30 pm tomorrow.
Sharon Payne
Media Manager
Mountain Bike Australia
Brief results below
1st Dellys Starr (Smiths Gully, /Denver) # 312
2nd Emma Colson (Fitzroy. VIC) #303
3rd Niki Fisher (Macquarie, ACT) #304
4th Zoe King (Manly, SYD) #306
5th Tory Thomas (Mt Beauty, Vic) #301
6th Rowena Fry (Launceston, TAS) #309
7th Jo Wall (Bendigo, VIC) #311
8th Joanne Harrington ( Newport, SYD) # 326
9th Kate Potter ( Cromer, SYD) #302
10th Oenone Wood (Belconnen, ACT) #322
1st Chris Jongewaard (Para Hills, SA) #
2nd Sid Taberlay (Blackman’s Bay, TAS) #
3rd Dan McConnell (Bruthen, Vic)
In the women's race, Melbourne's Commonwealth Games representative, Dellys Starr proved she was in a league of her own. Starr moved away from National Road Champion, Oenone Wood in the start lap and retained her lead for four laps of the 8.3 km circuit. Although not a selection race, Starr has now been placed in the shadow team.
Australian newly appointed cross country coach, Neil Ross, was impressed with Starr’s performance.
“With the World Cup season still ahead there remains other opportunities for women to achieve shadow squad qualification. If no one else qualifies then the only athlete on the shadow squad, Dellys, is first in line for the Olympic nomination,” said Ross.
Starr was leaving nothing to chance and made a break to finish the four laps in 1 hour 54.46 min.
“It’s impossible to take it easy if you take it easy you loose your spot and it’s so much harder to gain that back," stated Starr.
"It definitely wasn’t an easy race I was pushed the whole way and I was really impressed with the depth of the field."
Quietly confident, Starr was not expecting her final placing. “You can never expect anything. I knew I had good legs but once again I didn’t know whether they were good enough,” she added.
Chris Jongewaard was not challenged after the first lap of five. The defending national champion, found the technical sections suited him. The 28 year old from Adelaide finished the five lap course in 2 hr 2.12 min. Athens Olympian, Sid Taberlay, claimed second while Victorian Dan McConnell placed third.
“I just knew that I would have it over these guys on the technical sections,” admitted Jongewaard.
“I thought I’d give it a bit of a test on the first climb. Going down the descent I just gapped them. I rode my own race and went on with it.”
Although different to the women’s race, three of the men have already gained positions on the shadow team. Chris Jongewaard, Sid Taberlay and Daniel McConnell have already made it onto that team however gaining his second title has significance to Jongewaard personally.
“It’s a good feeling to win the title again,” he said.
There was close racing in the Under 23 division with Paul Van Der Ploeg beating Cal Brittan. Local favourite Ben Henderson claimed third.
Racing at the Toyota 2008 Australian Mountain Bike Championships continues with downhill. In the women's event world ranked number three, Tracey Hannah qualified ahead of Great Britain's Tracy Moseley ranked number two. The elite men seeding run today saw Bryn Atkinson qualify fastest while Nathan Rennie qualified second. In third spot is Canadian national champion, Steve Smith, while Canberra's Jared Rando and Amiel Cavalier gained fourth and fifth fastest today.
The of competition starts with the short course cross country followed by final for the elite downhill run will start at 2.30 pm tomorrow.
Sharon Payne
Media Manager
Mountain Bike Australia
Brief results below
1st Dellys Starr (Smiths Gully, /Denver) # 312
2nd Emma Colson (Fitzroy. VIC) #303
3rd Niki Fisher (Macquarie, ACT) #304
4th Zoe King (Manly, SYD) #306
5th Tory Thomas (Mt Beauty, Vic) #301
6th Rowena Fry (Launceston, TAS) #309
7th Jo Wall (Bendigo, VIC) #311
8th Joanne Harrington ( Newport, SYD) # 326
9th Kate Potter ( Cromer, SYD) #302
10th Oenone Wood (Belconnen, ACT) #322
1st Chris Jongewaard (Para Hills, SA) #
2nd Sid Taberlay (Blackman’s Bay, TAS) #
3rd Dan McConnell (Bruthen, Vic)