Panozzo and Rostan triumph in the rain
The 2016 Enduro National Championships went to Adelaide - and while the racers arrived, so did the rain!
Chris Panozzo and Philippa Rostan won a rain affected 2016 Gravity Enduro National Championship at Eagle MTB Park in Adelaide, South Australia on Sunday.
Panozzo made it back to back titles in the elite men ahead of Ben Cory and Jordan Prochyra, while Rostan claimed her first ever Australian enduro title in the elite women leaving Shelly Flood and Emily Parkes to fill the minor placings.
Despite Saturday’s compulsory practice being dry, Sunday was the total opposite, with the venue receiving around 46mm of rain forcing race organisers to cut some of the stages.
With sections of stage 3 unrideable, the race director started riders at the half-way mark before by passing stage 4 all together and finishing on stage 5.
“I’m glad that cut that top bit out on stage 3 as that clay can just turn icy like and you’ll slide all the way down,” Rostan said.
“I rode really well on the first two stages despite the conditions and I knew Em Parkes was really fit, so I just had to peddle as hard as I could on the first stage.”
The South Australian local was consistent across the four stages, with an overall time of 17min 51:23secs, 17 seconds in front of the reining title holder in Parkes.
It capped off a remarkable 2016 enduro season for Rostan, having taken out the national series with three wins and now the Australian title.
In the elite men, Panozzo, the current national champion, admitted it would be a tough ask to hold on to his title in the bleak and slippery conditions.
“It was hard to know how hard to push, you know if you’d done enough and what conditions would be like so an interesting day for sure.”
“Everyone probably had a stack at some point in the day given conditions, it was a nervous wait.”
Panozzo held off the challenge of this season’s national series winner in Ben Cory, to finish with an overall time of 13min 37:24secs, while Troy Brosnan, who was riding for fun, finished fifth in his first time back on the bike in three weeks after the completion of the UCI MTB Downhill world championships.
While the inclement weather didn’t allow for riders to compete on the new sections constructed for the championship, Panozzo admits there are good signs ahead for the 2017 and 2018 national championships also to be held at Eagle MTB Park.
“I think Adelaide has got a huge amount of great trails and hopefully this is a learning and year and can only get better.”
