McConnell starts off Olympic year with victory

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Dan McConnell, an Olympian from Beijing in 2008, started off this Olympic year in outstanding form by winning the Australian All Mountain Cup Olympic distance cross country race at Mt Buller ahead of Paul Van Der Ploeg and Andrew Blair. In the elite women's race, Jenni King continued her outright dominance of the 2011-2012 season with a confident win over Rebecca Henderson and Jenny Fay.

Men

McConnell was in seventh place for the first two laps, but moved through the field well. "I got off to a bit of a sluggish start, it was my first proper mountain bike race in a while, but I was able to pace it well," he said.

He also commented on the challenging Mt Buller course, "The course certainly took its toll on the field, it was a fatiguing course, climbs creep up on you, descents are hard on the upper body and you don't get much recovery, it made for a really tough race."

Second-placed and fellow Victorian Van Der Ploeg rode and worked well with McConnell at some key stages of the race. Van Der Ploeg helped make the key breakaway at the start of lap 4 from seasoned veteran Sid Taberlay.

The day marked the first race in the elite field for Van Der Ploeg after a stellar results in the U23 category. "It was pretty tough, a huge contrast to racing with the under 23 field, I liked being up there with the big boys," said Van Der Ploeg.

Blair, the season leader after Round 1 in Perth, talked about his third place. "I'm feeling really good, third places in the first two stages of the weekend and to be as close to Dan and Paul as I was, I'm pretty happy with my form."

Trenton Day won the U23 men's event.

Women

Jenni King, who dominated the women's race, seemed to be untouchable as she rode to victory ahead of Rebecca Henderson and Jenny Fay.

"I've been training hard all year, so I'm pretty happy with the win," she said. "It was a rough and challenging course, but I enjoyed the descents, they were fun."

Second-placed Henderson has been racing both road and mountain bike with a busy schedule, and had just stepped up to the elite field. "Since the new year, the racing hasn't stopped, but I'm happy to go this well."

Late last year Henderson was named the Australian 2011 Female Mountain Biker of the year based on an impressive national and international season "I was surprised to get that award, but I worked hard overseas last year."

Jess Wigan won the women's U23 event.

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