The recent Australian XCM Championship was my first ever National Championship in this discipline of cycling. Despite having raced numerous elite national and state titles in road racing and XCO racing I was perhaps more intimidated by the challenge ahead of me at the XCM nationals. Being amongst only 2 riders who opted to take […]
Crash course: Imogen Smith on her season-ending accident
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
Seven weeks ago, I had a big crash in a women’s criterium that ended my racing season before it really began. Early in the final 200m sprint, where I was sitting in the top 10 (I thought I’d be safe there), there was a surge from behind and riders moved sideways. It took the girl […]
Course preview: Australian XCM Championships in Townsville
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to visit Townsville to take a look at the proposed course for the 2017 and 2018 Mountain Bike Cross-Country Marathon (XCM) Championship, which is to be held on the last weekend of April this year in conjunction with the Townsville Mtb Festival. When the venue was announced, I […]
Mullens and Johnston add extra XCM titles to palmares
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
All photos from Russ Baker/MTBA The 2016 Australian XCM Championship headed to Derby after the small town of barely 200 people first hosted the race in 2015. While the trails have been extended and have bedded in nicely, it’s still a small town in North East Tasmania that is earning a reputation around Australia for […]
Masters Racing at Australian XCM Championships
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
With the Australian XCM Championships arriving in Derby, Tasmania for the second year running, it was another time when racing would run over both days of the weekend. As such, Masters racing and other non-elite categories races today on the Saturday. Given the dry summer season the trails in Derby were dusty and in prime […]
Previewing the Australian XCM Championships in Derby
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
This weekend the Australian XCM Championships take place in Derby, Tasmania. This is the second year that the event has come to Derby, and the sixth year that the race has taken a lap-based format. In 2015, the marathon racing stars of Australia came to Derby unsure what they would find. While many knew that about […]
Australian XCM Championships 2015: Day One
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) announced that Derby, Tasmania, would hold the 2015 and 2016 XCM Champs. It was big news! Visiting in February, the trails were clearly another World Trail masterpiece. With about 30km of singletrack finished at the Blue Derby trails, there was the makings of a very different marathon course. Lots of flowing singletrack, […]
Australian XCM Championships preview: Blue Derby
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
All photos by Oliver King. The launch of the Blue Derby trails in North East Tasmania have received a lot of attention, and that is completely justified. The development of the trail network there has been made in the hope of rejuvenating the town and surrounding communities that have shrunk since mining stopped and forestry […]