Tuesday, 22 April 2008
The 3-event weekend in forests east of Castlemaine and north of Ballarat proved popular and challenging for the strong 18-man field in M21 Elite. Sunny and dry conditions were perfect for riding with excellent courses thanks to Geoff Armstrong (NE) and Mark Valentine (EU). Adrian Jackson scored clear wins on the Middle and Sprint events with Alex Randall taking the Long-Distance by a 1 minute 40 second margin over Adrian. The 10 women in W21 Elite showed promise of things to come at the MTB / WOC in Poland with Thorlene Egerton (Qld) winning the Long-Distance, Jen Graham-Taylor (WA) topped the AUS riders on the Middle-Distance, and Melanie Simpson (NSW) scoring her first win in the Sprint. Six men in M17-20 Elite fought out the best competition ever seen in this age group with Peter Markworth (Vic) victorious in the Long and Middle Distance events while QLD's Kurt Neumann captured the Sprint.
The standings after the first 3 rounds of the National Series are now available.
In the Mens' division, the Victorian Nuggets have a stranglehold on the competition with Adrian Jackson, Alex Randall and Tony Clark holding the top 3 places, NSW Stinger Paul Darvodelsky is hot on Tony's heels just 2 points behind in 4th place.
The Womens' division sees QLD Cyclone Thor Egerton leading NSW Stinger Melanie Simpson and WA Nomad Jen Graham-Taylor.
Full results and splits from the weekend's events are available here.