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Scott Australian 24Hr Mountain Bike Championships - NE
Mt Stromlo, ACT, October 13 - 14, 2007
English, Douglas & Team GU Sram Nite Riders win at Mt. Stromlo
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Jason English was crowned "solo king of the hill" after winning the 2008 Scott 24 hour Mountain Bike race with 28 laps in 23:58:06. Last year's champion, Andrew Bell took second with 27 laps in 24: 21: 08, and current European 24 hour champion, Zdenek Kriz of the Czech Republic, finished third with 26 laps in 24: 27: 28.
It's been a good year for the 27 year-old English, who also won the 24 hour Australian solo championships in March.
"The race plan from the start was to keep an eye on everyone but to ride my own race," said bleary eyed English after the event. "The quality of the riders at the moment is amazing and Australia continues to produce some of the best 24 hour mountain bike riders in the world."
Commenting on the course design, English said, "The hour glass course worked especially for the amount of riders on the track and as the courses are shorter it enabled crew contact more often, which really helps when you're out there by yourself."
Canberra will host the 2008 UCI mountain bike World Championships, but English said he would like to see the 24 hour World Championship there sometime, too.
In the women's solo division, Jessica Douglas claimed victory completing 21 laps in 23:05:03, with Phillipa Rostin finishing 19 laps in 24:08:11 and Penny Dustow of Casuarina completing 18 laps in 23:19:24
"A 24 hour solo is like giving birth - really super painful and you know there is a reward at the end of it but there is no way you would turn around and do it again straight away," said an elated Douglas.
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In the elite team's category, the master combination of Chris Jongewaard, Sid Taberlay, Brent Miller and Perren Delacour racing for "Team GU Sram Nite Riders", won in style crossing the finish line in first, completing 37 laps of the course in 24:16:42, ten minutes ahead of World Champion, James Williamson's team, "Swell Spank" who also completed 27 laps in 24:25:42.Team Merida Flight Centre finished in third place with 32 laps in 22:20:16.
The GU team was down a member for the morning hours after its Chris Jongewaard jumped on a plane to race the Herald Sun Criterium in Melbourne in the afternoon.
"It was the toughest 24 hour I have done in quite a few years and we had to move away from our usual race plan with Chris flying out to Melbourne this morning," said Canberra's Brent Miller.
"With only three men remaining the night life became pretty hectic for all of us, but hey, now our gang is finished and Chris is still riding this afternoon."
Tasmania's own international star Sid Taberley made up the remaining GU team alongside Perren Delacour. "I thought I had laid off a bit in yesterday's prologues but in hindsight I may have gone out to hard too early but then I did take out some of the fastest laps in the 24 as well, so all is good," said Taberley.
Perfect weather conditions were seen right throughout the championships with a spectator crowd reaching over 6,000 to cheer on over 2,200 endurance riders across the course of the weekend.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Scott 24 Hour Race
- Chris Jongewaard made an appearance in the prologue event.
- Riding at night adds some challenges.
Results
Solo elite men 1 Jason English (Jet Black Products) 28 23:58:06 2 Andrew Bell 27 24:21:08 3 Zdenek Kriz 26 24:11:48 4 Shane Taylor 25 23:49:20 5 Riding True (True Swain) 24 23:18:17 6 Sean Bekkers 22 23:38:12 7 Damian Gillard 22 24:35:21 8 Arran Pearson 21 23:09:52 9 Francis Le Brun 21 23:10:59 10 Toby Wallace 21 23:22:02 11 Adam Kelsall 21 23:56:21 12 Kevin Wells 20 23:43:55 13 Chris Maher 20 23:57:18 14 Dan Felton (C N C Feltron) 20 23:58:19 15 Steve Onyabikeson Mair (Steven Mair) 20 24:32:33 16 Chris Hellman 20 24:33:19 17 Trev Fairhurst (Trevor Fairhurst) 20 25:23:28 18 Darius Everett 19 23:41:45 19 Michael Hernan ADA 19 24:09:00 20 Jonathan Donnelly (Jonno) 19 24:09:03 21 Dion Blair 18 23:26:42 22 Michael Eyb ADA (Mick and the Dancing Doona) 18 23:40:50 23 Ed Hood 18 23:58:08 24 Andrew Armstrong (Stretcharmo) 18 25:10:07 25 Nick Clark 17 23:35:38 26 Ben McDuff 17 24:08:23 27 Robbie Morris (The gibbon) 17 24:11:30 28 Steven McDonald 16 23:06:24 29 Yoshihiro Morisaki 16 23:13:38 30 Michael Crummy 16 23:33:22 31 Peter Hamilton 16 23:52:04 32 Julian Emsley 16 24:17:20 33 Benjamin Gooley ADN 15 23:27:22 34 Joe Szpytko (smokey joe and the deep voices) 15 23:53:06 35 Matt Riordan 14 23:47:32 36 Richard Giddings 14 24:00:33 37 Chris Huet 14 24:44:08 38 Shayne Bellato 13 23:38:03 39 Martin Wisata (Rocky Trail Entertainment 1) 13 24:08:42 40 Mike Bonnitcha 13 24:22:46 41 Geoff Mattes (Crazy Talk) 12 23:50:36 42 Mike Brennan 12 24:44:11 43 Nick Cornish 12 24:51:35 44 Jason Dreggs (The Good Doctor) 11 23:58:38 45 Matthew Cordery (No Friends) 10 23:16:25 46 Trent Morgan 10 23:54:16 47 Royce Flanagan 10 24:06:36 48 Jerome Zadro (Aquacell) 10 24:15:49 49 Scott Campbell 10 24:16:00 50 Chris Chant 10 24:16:22 51 Dylan Clift 10 24:36:06 52 Mark Schmidt 10 24:44:30 53 Jacob Coles 9 23:01:22 54 Aaron Simmons 9 23:09:50 55 Simon Llewellyn 9 23:24:21 56 Adam Bellato 9 24:09:47 57 John Paul Zanatta 8 23:18:20 58 Jon Rutledge 8 23:35:16 59 Carl Sommerville 8 23:56:58 60 Rob Parberry (Via Crucis) 8 24:17:40 61 Jeremy Ross 7 23:17:33 62 Christophe Barriere-Varju (2009 Dakar Rally) 7 23:33:13 63 Martin Smith 7 23:54:13 64 Anthony Mair 7 23:56:04 65 Andrew Wearing 6 23:29:49 66 Bradley Hearn 6 24:28:17 67 Stuart Masson (Mountain Dude) 5 23:54:18 68 Angus Hobson 1 23:07:26 DNF Scott Chancellor 13 11:12:16 DNF Shannon McGann (My Wife's Cousin) 11 20:30:52 DNF Jon King 10 22:29:10 DNF Adrian Kingsell 10 22:52:34 DNF Scott Abercromibe 8 10:33:20 DNF Luke Bracks (Loophole) 8 13:29:10 DNF Rodney Pitkin 8 18:03:13 DNF Eric Wensing 7 7:32:25 DNF Jason Harrod 6 19:40:16 DNF Scott Thompson 5 21:44:38 DNF Gary Knight 5 21:45:57 DNF Cameron Dalton 4 3:44:50 DNF Anthony Connell 4 5:02:06 DNF Nicholas Zarifeh 4 5:07:27 DNF Chris Hatcher (Team Reagan) 1 1:14:45 Solo elite women 1 Jessica Douglas 21 23:05:03 2 Philippa Rostan (Superflip) 19 24:08:11 3 Penny Dustow 18 23:19:24 4 Karen Foat Blackman 16 25:03:19 5 Jaime Warren ADN 11 23:23:28 Elite men team 1 GU Sram Niteriders 37 24:16:12 2 Team Swell - Spank 37 24:25:42 3 Merida Flight Centre MTB Team 33 23:06:30 4 Felt Racing 23 23:54:25 DNF Rockstar Racing 25 21:29:43 DNF VIG Racing Team 14 11:38:33
