Champion mountain biker Katherine Hosking pedalled her way to poll position on the leaderboard in the opening rounds of the national cross country series in Orange over the weekend.
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In a successful competition for local mountain bikers, Hosking led the way, jumping to first in round one on Saturday in the under 19s.
The reigning series champion continued her hot form in round two on Sunday and took out top spot once again.
"Even though I have done a few of these rounds now, every win is special,” Hosking said.
“It feels really good to have a win going into the rest of the series knowing I had a good start.”
Hosking said while the Orange course wasn’t too technical, the hills proved hard work.
Fellow under 19 biker Angus Apps impressed in only his second year of riding.
Apps managed 12th place on Saturday and finished in 11th on Sunday.
Going away, you get all the locals cheering for all their local riders, but having that here in Armidale on our home track with all family and friends, that will be pretty cool.
- Katherine Hosking
Michael and Holly Harris also got their series off to a solid start in the elite divisions with Michael finishing the weekend in sixth position and Holly securing fourth.
Isabella Hosking and Emily Wooster finished third and fourth in the under 17 women’s category.
The next two rounds of the national series will be hosted locally at SportUNE on January 28 and 29.
It is the first time the city has held national series and Hosking said it is exciting to have the country’s best riders in her home town.
"Going away, you get all the locals cheering for all their local riders, but having that here in Armidale on our home track with all family and friends, that will be pretty cool,” she said.
"[It is] something they don't see very often because they don't know a lot about what I do, what is involved, so it will be pretty cool.”