The 2015 MTBA National Cross Country Series kicked off on the dusty single trails of Mt Taylor this past weekend. Mt Taylor sits inland from Lakes Entrance and, as a new location for the National Series, it provided some exciting racing for the first stop of the 2015/16 season.
The course was a simple enough design with 5km of undulating singletrack through native bush land. A few short steep pinches were littered throughout as well as a whole heap of loose corners. While not overly challenging, the deteriorating soil conditions meant the loose corners in practice grew slick and some ‘creative’ lines were starting to develop to miss the corners and straight line the course!
November rounds are always a little weird with some people coming off extended breaks, endurance training and racing or stage races like the Hellfire Cup and Cape to Cape. Everyone usually has different priorities and different ‘ebbs and flows’ to their current fitness. Nonetheless, whether it’s in November – December or March, an XC race hurts!
On the hunt
At 12:30pm sharp, the gun was fired to mark the start of the Elite Men’s race. After practising it 1000 times in training, clipping into the pedal is instinctual. The first pedal strokes come easy, as does the next few for the first minutes of the race. Entering the singletrack and closing into the first pinch climb, the legs have caught on that this isn’t a one-off effort and the next 1.5 hours is going to hurt!
A long conga line of Elite riders picks its way through the first lap of the 7-lap race. Due to the fast circuit, gaps are small and slight errors prove costly. As things settle down, small battles for position start to form. These ‘battles’ are what make XCO racing so great. Bar to bar racing against another rider to see who is the strongest. But who is playing their cards the closest to their chest? Was that a small surge or a full attack? Did you really just break them or are they catching their breath for a final lap assault?
Once again, McConnell proved too strong.
At the end of the day, the final results don’t show these small ‘battles’ but instead focus on who crossed the line first. As it should. And today that was Dan McConnell, who, in front of a semi-home crowd, took the win from the Torq/Merida riders of Chris Hamilton and Tasman Nankervis who both had excellent rides to take 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
In the women’s race, Jenni King took the win from Karen Hill and Myra Timena Moller in 3rd. Sunday brought about the XCC – short course – racing and in the men’s it was a repeat podium of the day before and in the women’s it was a Torq 1,2,3 with Katherine Hosking winning over Holly Harris and Em Parkes.
You might as well take the scenic route when travelling to races.
XCO Results HERE
XCC Results HERE