Crocodile Trophy: Huber and White win overall titles

Urs Huber won his fifth Crocodile Trophy Champion title today in Port Douglas after eight days and 27:38:30,7 of racing and set a new record in the 24-year history of the event. Fellow Swiss racer Konny Looser won the finale stage 8 and finished second overall, however, he claimed the points classification.

In third, was the Luxemburg National Champion Soren Nissen ahead of the Austrian Matthias Grick and the Czech rider Milan Damek.

"I'm extremely happy about this victory and that I achieved what I set out to at the start of this race," said Urs Huber of his record-breaking fifth victory today.

He explained that this was his sixth participation in 10 years and that a lot had changed in the event. "It used to be a road racers competition with long Outback highways and is now an event where you need to be an all-rounder, however, what is still the same is the fierce competition at the front end. You need to be a good technical rider, but know how to ride a tactical race too." he said and that he had gone up and succeeded against the likes of Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens from the Netherlands.

This year had been tough as well with fellow Swiss racer Konny Looser a strong contender. "I went into this race fully focused, all that counted was the overall win," he explained his strategy, which got him the win by one minute overall.

White wins women's title

Cairns racer Sarah White claimed her second Crocodile Trophy victory in the women’s classification with 36:10:25,6 ahead of Lucy Coldwell (AUS) and Sjoukje Dufoer (BEL).

An experienced ultra-endurance racer, White won the elite women's winner by 32:34 minutes ahead of fellow Australian and ex road-pro Coldwell, finishing in 13th place outright.

"I really enjoyed this race, there was great competition among us women and a second Crocodile Trophy victory means a lot to me," White said.

The Crocodile Trophy took racers from 16 different nationalities including 18 Australians on a spectacular eight-day stage plan through Tropical North Queensland with almost 700km and more than 15,000 metres of elevation.

Last Saturday, they had started with a marathon from Cairns to Lake Tinaroo and day two and three they spent in Herberton and the surrounding Herberton Range National Parks.

For the 16th time the Crocodile Trophy made a stopover in Irvinebank before heading North to Skybury Coffee for two nights. Wetherby Station hosted the event yesterday and today was a 50km race to Port Douglas, finishing with a fast descent down the escarpment towards the coast on the infamous Bump Track.

All racers gathered after the official timing finish outside of town and rode towards the finish line on Four Mile Beach together in memoriam of the four-time Crocodile Trophy finisher and longtime mentor of the event, Greg Parr. The Cairns cycling icon passed away earlier this year and the Crocodile Trophy finished in his honour today. A multiple race finisher herself, Greg’s wife Sharmie led the riders along Four Mile Beach.

"Greg has been greatly missed by all this year, he was always there to help us when we needed him," said Crocodile Trophy founder Gerhard Schönbacher today. "He would have loved seeing us all arrive at the finish line together and I am so proud of all our competitors and their efforts this year."

The Crocodile Trophy will return to Tropical North Queensland from October 12-19 in 2019.

Brief Results