Clean sweeps for Hosking and Nash at a dusty CX National Series round 2 in Adelaide
Katherine Hosking (NSW/Orbea Women’s Racing) and Tristan Nash (WA/Midland Cycle Club) won their respective races at a dusty Round 2 of the AusCycling Cyclo-cross National Series in Adelaide last Sunday.
The Zombie Park course was raced in reverse on Sunday, with the circuit largely unchanged from the day before, meaning riders were faced with plenty of fast pedalling sections and tricky corners made loose by the Kaurna country dust. The one major change was made to the ‘swing tree’ feature, which changed from a tricky set of up-and-down hairpins to a zig-zagging off-camber run up a sandy hill that only one rider managed to power up all day.
Masters rider Julian Stockwell throws his machine on his shoulder as he begins the tricky run up the sandy hill. As usual, the gradient was steeper than this picture makes it look.
Photo: CX Down Under
Age-group racing
The second round of this year’s National Series saw a varied crowd of riders taking to the start line - including recently crowned world age group XCO MTB champion Sharon Heap and former Women’s U23 national champion Stacey Huysmans, who returned to the CXNS for the first time since the birth of her daughter.
Anecdotal evidence suggested the course was much harder on participants on day 2 than day 1, with several riders wandering around the event village post-race with fresh bandages on their arms and legs. The chief culprit for this seemed to be a log on one of the back straights (seen below) that required more height to bunnyhop on Sunday than Saturday, and which brought more than one rider unstuck.
Elite Women
As with Saturday’s opening round a small group went away early in Sunday’s race, although this time Hosking and Griffiths were joined by an improved Fi Morris (VIC/MAAP Sixpence CX), with all three still close together as they came into the off-camber run in the back half of the opening lap.
The local sisters Talia and Anook Simpson (both SA/Adelaide MTB Club) were hot on their heels, though they’d both be more than 15 seconds off the pace by the end of the lap.
Griffiths seemed more content to share the pacemaking with Hosking than on day 1, and the pair gradually edged themselves away from a dogged Morris over the next two laps.
It was on the fourth of six laps that Hosking was able to distance Griffiths, with the national champion laying down her fastest lap of the day to gain a 10 second advantage over her Victorian rival as she saw two laps to go. In an interview after the race, Hosking said that she was initially unaware that she’d snapped the elastic, only noticing that she’d gapped Griffiths once the Victorian rider was out of sight. Hosking eventually won by 57 seconds, saluting the Adelaide crowd as she collected her second win in as many days.
A special mention to local junior Maddie Wasserbaech (Butterfields Racing), whose winning time in the Women’s U19 race would have been enough to earn her fourth place in the Elite race. Definitely a name to watch for the future!
The Elite Women’s podium (L-R): Anook Simpson, Miranda Griffiths, Katherine Hosking, Fi Morris and Talia Simpson.
Photo: Ride Adelaide
Elite Men
In the Elite Men’s race, Australian U23 champion Tristan Nash took the lead early in lap 1 and grew it consistently throughout the race, eventually skidding over the line 49 seconds ahead of former U23 XCO MTB national champion Domenic Paolilli, who benefitted from a much cleaner start than on day 1.
After a see-sawing contest, the battle for third spot came down to a last-lap sprint between two Aussie CX stalwarts, with Garry Millburn (VIC/MAAP Sixpence CX) putting on a last-minute burst to finish ahead of Nick Smith (NSW/ Duke Flanders Racing). Millburn’s teammate and Elite national champion Chris Aitken (NSW) rounded out the podium in fifth.
The Men’s Elite podium (L-R): Nick Smith, Domenic Paolilli, Tristan Nash, Garry Millburn and Chris Aitken.
Photo: Ride Adelaide
Disclosure: CX Down Under editor Tom McQuillan is the AusCycling National CX Series Director for 2024, and is assisting in the preparation, delivery and review of this year’s CX National Series events, including this event in Adelaide.
If you came along, he hopes you had a nice time.
Acknowledgement: This race took place on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. CX Down Under acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we ride, and their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.