CANNONBALL FESTIVAL 2023: Flow Motion Cup
It’s the second day of racing here at Cannonball Festival, and today saw U19 and Pro riders tackle the famously long Flow trail at Thredbo.
Words: Georgina von Marburg
Photos: Matt Rousu
Due to entries being so large for this race, the categories are dispersed over two days with juniors, amateurs, and elites racing today, and Masters tomorrow.
Before we dive into results, let’s talk a bit about the Flow trail at Thredbo. It may be a flowy affair for most of the season, but by the time Cannonball Festival rolls around and hundreds of riders have etched their mark on the corners – it’s hardly a ‘flow’ trail. The berms are blown out with huge braking ruts, while the fast straights remain prime opportunities to pedal and make up seconds. This race is all about muscular endurance; it’s like doing a wall squat and row for 8 – 10 minutes.
Catch up on Cannonball! View yesterday’s gallery from the All Mountain Assault here.
There were some tired bodies after yesterday’s All Mountain Assault, but most riders took the opportunity for a practice lap or two early this morning. With minimal fog overnight, the conditions were dry and glarey. But despite the dust pits, many riders were bravely opting for white kit!
One such rider was Poppy Pollock who took a blistering win in the U19 Women’s, ahead of Queensland downhiller Sacha Mills and Lucha Pace from the Central Coast. There was a position shake up in the U19 Men’s from yesterday, with Lewis Allbon taking the win ahead of Seth Kingma and Bow Habermann.
In the Pro Women’s field, Harriet Harden took yet another win, this time ahead of BMX Olympian and World Champ Caroline Buchanan. The two battled it out on the endless banked corners in front of the growing crowd.
In the men’s – you guessed it – TIMMY EATON trumped everyone, inching him further towards the King of Cannonball title. Josh Arcus was on his tail yet again, off the pace by 11 seconds, while Tom Crimmins finished a further 6 seconds back.
But now the real work starts as riders prepare for the big dance on Saturday with the Downhill National Champs on the Cannonball track. We’ll bring you live coverage throughout the day including trackside footage and copious stoke!
Full results from today can be found here, and the gallery from yesterday’s All Mountain Assault can be found here!
