The Australian National Downhill series has well and truly kicked off here in Oz. Round 1 saw racers heading to Awaba Mountain Bike park, located in NSW about an hours drive north of Sydney. This would be the first time National racing has been back in Awaba since 2012 and what a way to come back!
With this first round being in the peak of the Australian summer and temps soaring to a top of 41 degrees during practice it was sure to be an interesting weekend of racing. The trail has had a fair bit of work done with some major upgrades to bring it up to what is said to be a world class standard. The track has steep pitch, some classic dust through the gum trees and what seems to be a never ending supply of granite boulders to make sure nothing about the place is smooth. Home to some of Australia’s best, Awaba has previously hosted a number of state races over the past years, but has come into its own for this year's first National Downhill Series.
After the big news of Troy Brosnan’s move to Canyon Bikes, all eyes were on the Aussie champ to see how he’d perform on the new ride. He didn’t disappoint, steering the Sender into the top spot for seeding. Jake Newell put in a solid effort on his Mondraker to seed second with Joel Willis coming in third.
Danni Beecroft, who had been looking fast throughout practice lay down the fastest time in seeding for the women ahead of Tegan Molloy and Kellie Weinert. In the Junior Men Pat Butler threw down a killer seeding time which overall was the third fastest for the day.
Saturday night brought with it a nice bit of rain which cooled the temperatures to something manageable and wet the track just enough to make it fast and grippy.The extra traction showed up right away with junior rider Kye A’hern putting in a sub 4 minute to take the win in under 17’s. Pat Butler backed up his awesome seeding performance to take the win with a 3:34.16 time in the Junior Men’s over Josh Clarke and Harry Parsons. In the Elite Women’s it was Danni Beecroft who was unstoppable taking out the win over Tegan Molloy and Sarah Booth.The times in the Elite men’s field got even faster as the day wore on and in the end Brosnan smashed it on his new Canyon to take the win with a time of 3:30.91 Jake Newell lay down another speedy run to land himself in second followed by Jackson Frew in third.
Full Results Here
Unless you're riding a late 90's Cannondale. Then you just have to tell it like it is.
My daughter was only 9 and got talked into a "travel" softball tournament. It was 104 the whole day. Every tournament since has seemed like a spring breeze.
The girls used a think called a Frogg Togg all day. We kept a 30 gallon cooler loaded with ice that they dunked them in and it was disgusting to look at but the only thing that got them through the day.
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