Australian National CX Championships: Elite Men’s Preview
The last time Chris Jongewaard wasn’t the Elite Men’s Australian CX champion was August 19th, 2016. That was more than 2,200 days ago - when Barack Obama was the current US president, TikTok was just a song by Ke$ha and Game of Thrones was still good.
The man nicknamed ‘JBlood’ won’t be defending his CX national title in 2022, meaning that a new Men’s Elite national champion will be crowned this weekend. Who will it be?
Chris Aitken tips it in at round 6 of the AusCycling Cyclocross National Series in Creswick.
Photo: @thatbikenerd
The Venue
While Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park is a privately owned facility that normally caters to the enduro and downhill crowd, this Saturday will see the venue swap suspension forks for skinsuits as it hosts the 2022 AusCycling Cyclocross National Championships.
The course is draped over the hillside at Greenvalleys, situated on Tharawal land about half an hour’s drive southwest of Wollongong. With a couple of decent climbs and long descents and plenty of the circuit out in the open to make spectating a breeze, it looks as though it’ll be a challenging course to end the Aussie CX season.
While Greenvalleys MTB Park usually hosts events with a gravity riding focus on the upper slopes of the hill to the right, this weekend will see riders on the flatter terrain of the lower slopes.
Photo: AusCycling MTB & CX
The Weather
The weather on race day looks to be almost perfect for spring cyclocross, with temperatures projected to reach 21ºC under partly cloudy skies.
Given that conditions at Australian CX races this winter have tended towards the wet and muddy side (especially at the final weekend of the CX National Series in Ballarat), the grassy conditions and relative lack of recent rain should promise somewhat drier conditions for this year’s National Championships.
With a few showers on Thursday the only scheduled rainfall between now and race day, it’s most likely to be a course for intermediate tyres rather than a full mud tread - though given the amount of elevation gain per lap riders will likely want to trim weight from their machines where possible.
Elite Men
Garry Millburn (MAAP-Sixpence) - VIC
The current leader of this year’s CX National Series, Millburn has been undefeated in the Victorian CX scene all year, capping off his season with a dominant win at the Victorian State Championships in late August. The Bright resident also won three rounds of the CX National Series in Samford and Creswick, and may have added further to that tally had he not been in isolation due to COVID for the Ballarat race weekend in early August.
A financial advisor by day, Millburn has represented Australia at the World Championships on four separate occasions, with his best result being a 36th place at Valkenburg in 2019.
The 35 year-old stood on the podium at the National Championships five times in a row from 2015-2019, but has never set foot on the top step. Is this the year he finally wins the green and gold jersey?
Garry Millburn powers through the mud on his way to victory at the Victorian State Championships in August.
Photo: @ogaram
Chris Aitken (MAAP-Sixpence) - NSW
Chris Aitken isn’t just the teammate of Garry Millburn - he’s the New South Wales state champion and the winner of three rounds of the CX National Series this year. Indeed, his gap to Millburn in the CX National Series is just 10 points - with 120 points on the line for the winner on Saturday, whichever MAAP-Sixpence teammate crosses the line first is likely to be crowned the overall National CX Series winner.
Given that there’s a national championship on the line this is likely to be a secondary concern - Aitken has only beaten Millburn head-to-head once this year (round 4 of the National CX Series in Queensland), but he has been able to get the better of him in the past - including at the 2019 World Championships in the Danish town of Bogense, where Aitken finished 46th to Millburn’s 53rd.
Aitken was the U23 national champion back in 2015, but the closest he’s come to the Elite title was when he finished second to Chris Jongewaard at the 2019 National CX Championships. Living in Newcastle has meant that he’s had to drive some very long hours to compete in this year’s National CX Series, so the three and a half hours drive to Greenvalleys will feel like a jaunt to the shops in comparison.
Tom Chapman (Team BridgeLane) - SA
Hailing from the Adelaide hills, South Australian Tom Chapman has been rarely spotted on the Aussie CX scene this season, as he’s been taking part in European road races like the Tour d’Eure-et-Loire and the Tour du Pays de Montbéliard for Team BridgeLane. He returned in early August and showed the benefit of that European form, winning the most recent round of the AusCycling South Australia CX State Series by a commanding three minutes.
He was the U23 national champion in 2014 and 2016, and he’s previously finished as high as 4th in the Men’s Elite national championship race. Of all the riders on the startlist, the 27 year-old is perhaps the rider most capable of springing a surprise victory, having won several rounds of the National CX Series in pre-COVID times. He wasn’t listed on the most recent startlist, but has confirmed that he’ll be on the start line this Saturday.
He also makes a bit of extra money on the side as a CX coach - so if you’re in the Adelaide area and looking for a way to improve your CX skills in the off-season, be sure to hit him up!
Tom Chapman hops the barriers at round 3 of the AusCycling South Australia State CX Series.
Photo: @rideadelaide
Nick Smith (Flanders-FMB) - NSW
Nick Smith has recently returned to CX after a couple of seasons away, and managed to snag a 3rd place at the NSW State Championships at the end of August.
Smith has represented in Australia at the CX World Championships on five occasions, including finishing on the lead lap the three times he competed at the U23 world championships from 2017-2019. He’s now 25 and eligible to compete for the Elite National title - given that he hails from the Southern Highlands of NSW, Smith is the closest thing in either Elite race to a hometown rider.
Nick Smith gets back to getting dirty at the NSW State CX Championship in August.
Photo: Richard Scriven
Cam Wright (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) - QLD
The 2017 Junior World Champion for Cross-Country Olympic Mountain Biking (XCO) and reigning U23 XCO national champion is lining up for his first national championship in cyclocross. He’s recently returned from a stint in Europe racing for the Giant Factory Off-Road team, and finished 30th at the U23 XCO World Championships at Les Gets in France.
The recent changeover of UCI age-group years on September 1st means that this will be the first national championship he competes in as an Elite rider. He’s no stranger to the cross bike either, having finished 5th in the Gravel National Championships and finished second at the third round of the AusCycling Queensland State Series last month.
Cam Wright powers through the mud on his way to 2nd place at round 3 of the AusCycling Queensland State CX Series at Karingal.
Photo: @b.rad_sports
Other starters
Paul Redenbach (Flanders-FMB) - VIC
The oldest rider in the Elite Men’s field at 44, ‘Nugget’ Redenbach is the head honcho behind the Flanders-FMB team, has been a fixture of the Aussie cyclocross scene for the past decade, and represented Australia at the World Championships in 2015. He consistently finished second behind Garry Millburn in the AusCycling Victoria State Series in 2022, and finished no lower than 7th at the National CX Series this year. Watch out for the younger Redenbachs in the kids races as well!
Declan Wharton (Taylor Cycles) - QLD
The Queensland state champion managed to snare a couple of third place finishes at this year’s National Series in front of his home Queensland crowd, and could be an outside contender for a medal at this year’s national championships.
Nick Miller (Futuro Procycling) - QLD
Fun fact - this isn’t the most recent national CX championship that Nick Miller has competed in - as he’s a dual citizen of both Australia and New Zealand, he was able to compete at the 2019 New Zealand National Championships, finishing in second place behind winner Brendon Sharratt.
The tall 31 year-old finished second behind Wharton at the Queensland State Championships last month, and will be in the mix for a top 5 at Greenvalleys.
Jon Odams (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) - NSW
The Sydneysider and dad is new to CX this year, but finished second to Chris Aitken at the NSW State Championships and 4th at the Cross-Country Marathon Mountain Bike (XCM) national championships in August.
Tom Chester (Rauland) - ACT
The Canberra native races in the National Road Series for Team Rauland, finished 10th at the Gravel National Championships in August and racked up a 23rd place at the Gravelista race (part of the UCI Gravel World Series) in Beechworth two weekends ago. His only CX race for 2022 was a round of the NSW/ACT State Series at Mt Stromlo back in July, where he won the A Grade race.