Tracey Hannah and Troy Brosnan win Crankworx DH!
The jungle was heaving with support for Australian and international riders as Downhill went off at Crankworx Cairns.
Froday at Smithfield Mountain Bike Park really saw the action heat up – both with more spectatots flooding into the Crankworx Cairns venue, and on the hill. A stacked field took to the downhill course, famed for hosting the 1996 and 2017 UCI World Championships, and Australians took out top spot in Mens and Women’s elite racing categories.
Tracey Hannah and Troy Brosnon, both coming of a win in Crankworx Whistler back in August, navigated the iconic course to give them the edge and take home the gold, making it two in row for the pair.
Tracey well and truly knows this track like the back of her hand. She has had 21 podiums in Crankworx history and knocked fellow Australian Sian A’Hern out of first place by just 0.1 of a second.
Hannah was out for redemption for missing out on gold at the 2017 World Championships saying “It’s amazing, I feel like I carried some of the pressure from the huge mistake I made at 2017 World Champs here and I missed out on the gold medal so you know to have a huge race like this home in Cairns and take the win its extremely special. I’ve got family here, my partner and so many friends and even the amount of people that have travelled up for the race is amazing, to race in front of a home crowd is extremely nerve racking but also the best feeling!”
On the mens side, Troy Brosnan had so much precision through the switchbacks at the top section, and attacking through the bottom pedal section. With a section of the course named after him, Brosnan’s Gap, he said “it was actually really tough. The top was blown out and dry and then we get down to the rock garden which had a bit of rain earlier, so it was pretty slippery, then it was all about who could pedal the hardest. I was absolutely destroyed coming across the line, but I was stoked to have enough for the win.”
Brosnan said “It feels amazing winning the first ever Crankworx Cairns. To have a home race is pretty awesome. Such an amazing crowd. I’m pretty stoked.”
Rounding out the mens top 5 were fellow Aussies Connor Fearon on his vegemite bike, Tracey’s brother Mick Hannah, Joshua Button and Jackson Frew. Mick Hannah said of his run “It was good. The crowd was amazing. All the way down it was fun, coming into the rock garden you start hearing them scream, gets you motivated. I didn’t have a real smooth run which was a bit of a bummer.”
Results
1. Tracey Hannah (AUS) // Troy Brosnan (AUS)
2. Sian A’Hern (AUS) // Connor Fearon (AUS)
3. Louise Ferguson (GBR) // Mick Hannah (AUS)
