WATCH the AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships LIVE and FREE via SBS On Demand on February 12 and 18.
Jon Odams and Jess Hoskin are the new Australian E-MTB XC Champions, claiming the Elite Men's and Women's titles respectively.
Steady rain in the morning added an extra challenge for riders, with the slippery conditions making it difficult to find traction at times.
Odams led early in the men’s race, with Brendan Johnston and Caleb Dodds working hard to bridge the gap.
However, Odams stayed away from trouble and held off the field for the five laps to cross the line in first position with a time of one hour, eight minutes and four seconds.
“It was a pretty amazing race, really technical, and with the wet - real slick conditions. And just to pedal as hard as you can up the hill every lap,” Odams said.
“It was just ride as hard as I could, keep upright, stay smooth and try not to make too many mistakes.”
The battle for second and third came down to a sprint finish between Dodds and Johnston, whose battery on his e-bike had died on the final lap.
Dodds managed to get ahead of Johnston on the finishing straight to claim silver with a time of one hour, 11 minutes and 47 seconds. Johnston rounded out the podium five seconds further behind.
In the women’s race, Jess Hoskin blew the rest of the competition away from the start and never relinquished the lead.
Hoskin stopped the clock at one hour and one second after four laps, ahead of Caroline Buchanan in second at one hour, six minutes and 42 seconds, and Mielke Connor in third at one hour, eight minutes and 47 seconds.
“I was first to the top of the hill and cruised my way through the technical bits,” Hoskin said.
“It was pretty slippery out there; it was definitely exciting.”
XC Team Relay
In the Open XC Team Relay, Sam Fox bought home the gold for his team of Katherine Hosking, Eddie Willis and David Winfield in a nail-biting finish.
Aptly named "Defending Champs," the 2022 champions returned to Thredbo to claim back-to-back titles with a time of 37 minutes and 21 seconds.
“The pressure was on,” Fox said after the race.
“I don’t think I bought it home. I just think these guys had me close enough that it was possible.”
Fox, the last rider for Defending Champs, had some work to do to bridge the gap to the leaders on the bell lap.
“The other teams all left their quicker riders out there earlier to get an early gap, and it made for a really exciting last lap. I was working really hard to hunt them down and caught them through the single track so it was really tight racing through there.”
Just two seconds behind were the HeroDirt Coaching team of Harry Doye, Zoe Cuthbert, Angus Neaves and Dominic Burton, while the Duke Racing Wheelers team of Kathryn McInerney, Cohen Jessen, Domenic Paolilli and Robin Adams took out the bronze a further two seconds back.
Adaptive XC
A two-man battle in the Adaptive XC MTB category kicked off the 2023 AusCycling National Mountain Bike Championships earlier in the day.
Dean McSporran (C2 Men) led after the opening lap, and held on for the win over Josh Lindenthaler (Tx Men) who suffered mechanical issues.
McSporran finished the three laps in a time of one hour, one minute and 48 seconds ahead of Lindenthaler on one hour, 13 minutes and 34 seconds.
“You had to go hard going downhill because going uphill you just can’t get traction,” McSporran said.
It was McSporran’s first race after starting to ride MTB competitively about 6-months ago.
The National MTB Championships continue today with Short Track Cross-Country events across all age categories. The Olympic Distance Cross-Country races start on Saturday, leading up to the Elite Olympic Distance Cross-Country Men's and Women's races which will be livestreamed on SBS On Demand on Sunday.
WATCH the AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships LIVE and FREE via SBS On Demand on February 12 and 18.
