Troy Brosnan and Tegan Molloy take Thredbo wins

This weekend was a double header of XCO and DH action, with the cross-country racing in Canberra yesterday, and Downhill racing in Thredbo today.

With riders racing on a customised version of the famous Thredbo Cannonball Run track, action was always going to be spectacular at the iconic venue that has delivered national events for over twenty years. In the Elite Men’s field, all eyes were on the 2014 World Championships Bronze medallist, Troy Brosnan, who leads the Subaru National Series after a perfect round in the You Yangs.

With Brosnan setting the fastest time in seeding, he would be the last rider to start for the entire round on Sunday afternoon. The men raced as they seeded, falling into the hotseat one after the other before Brosnan sped into the winning position.

Brosnan is the second-ranked rider in the World for Downhill, and his true class showed on a clean final run that saw him retain the Subaru Series Leader jersey.

“I had a really good run there, not many mistakes,” Brosnan said. “I hit a few big holes but apart from that, just loving it! It was a lot faster this year and it was actually kind of scary at some sections but apart from that, it reminds me pretty much of Fort William. I gave it everything I had in that run and just pedalled and really tried to exert myself so I’m happy.”

Thomas Crimmins was only 5.13 seconds behind Brosnan, the local rider flying into second place, while Graeme Mudd took third.

For the Elite Women, the hot favourites were Molloy and Sarah Booth.

2015 Junior World Champion Molloy resides in Jindabyne, meaning she knows the Thredbo course better than most riders in Australia, and her local knowledge played to her advantage today. Molloy spoke of securing her first Elite win: “It’s pretty cool taking the win in front of a home crowd, it just makes it that bit more special.

“The idea was to take it easy in practice and then come out and a have a good race run. I’ve ridden the track many times before so I knew what to expect.”

Molloy finished in a spectacular time that was 32.7 seconds faster than the field, which means she will take over the Series Lead from Booth with only one round remaining.

Second place in the Elite women went to Ronja Hill-Wright and third to Booth.

Under 19

In Under 19 Men’s action, the show would be all about local Bredbo rider Andrew Crimmins.

Crimmins was the fastest Under 19 rider in seeding, and he did not disappoint in the race run, taking the win by exactly 4 seconds from Max Warshawsky in second, with Jackson Frew rounding out the podium.

In Under 19 Women’s racing, talented multi-discipline rider Ellie Wale took the win from Sian A’Hern.

For full race results, please visit: http://mtb.subaru.com.au/national-series/results

All photos by Jaime Black and Rob Conroy