Katherine Hosking has won her second national title after blitzing the field at the Australian Mountain Bike National Championships.
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Hosking was crowned the under 23 champion for the second time and also managed to record the second fastest lap across the whole competition behind Olympian Rebecca McConnell.
After a COVID lead absence of National level competition, a six-strong contingent of Armidale's finest mountain bikers headed across the Bass Straight to Maydena, Tasmania, to compete in the 2021 championship which had been delayed from the initial January dates.
The first event on Wednesday was the e-Bike Cross Country (electric assist); a new discipline that is becoming popular in the mountain biking community. This involves the use of a bike that delivers a maximum power of 250 watts when peddling and the rider will then add their own power over the top. This generally means that on climbs the rider/e-bike are putting out double the power of a conventional bike. At Maydena this meant that the e-bike course differed from the standard cross country course. Riders completed the same vertical metres but were sent up a steeper trail with grades that would be unrideable on a conventional bike.
Isabella Hosking competed in the e-Bike Cross Country taking the silver medal and behind Olympian and eight times Elite Women National Champion Rebecca McConnell.
E-Bike was followed by the Cross Country Team Relay where Katherine Hosking raced in a team of four who placed fourth just missing out on the podium. This one-lap hit out was a good warmup and determined how the super dry and steep 4.7 km course would ride at race pace.
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Toby Inglis was the next to compete in the U17 Cross Country Criterion on Thursday, a 20-minute race around a shorter 1km course. This fast and intense format had Toby take 13th place. On the following day, Toby competed in the main event, the Cross Country Olympic format. He finished 13th in one of the largest fields after 70 minutes of intense racing.
On Saturday morning the UCI categories, U19, U23 and, Elite Women, lined up for the Cross Country Olympic racing. Five minutes before the race a heavy shower turned the dusty course into a challenging mud fest, a condition that was not able to be practiced in the week leading up, forcing all riders to adapt quickly to the difficult and now challenging course.
Isabella Hosking settled well into the conditions a take 5th place in the U23, Olive Tutt rode through the challenging weather to take 5th place in U19 and Holly Harris finished 8th in the Elite Women.
Later in the day, Tumi Thorsteinsson competed in the U23 race completing the four laps to finish in 13th place in another stacked field of riders.
The following morning the overcast but improved drier short course, the Cross Country Criterion was run for the U19, U23 and, Elite categories. Katherine Hosking once again claimed the U23 National title, Isabella Hosking placed 5th in U23, Olive Tutt climbed to 4th in the U19 while Tumi Thorsteinsson finished in 11th in the U23 men race.
Congratulations to all the NEMTB riders for the outstanding results!
