Hannah back on track

After an 18-month break from competition, Mick Hannah returned to racing in full style at the Australian National Mountain Bike championships. The 25-year-old Hannah, older brother of former junior world champion downhiller Tracey Hannah, won the national downhill title ahead of BMX Olympian Jared Graves.

Hannah was competing in Canberra as a way to check out the World Championship course for September's event. "Being the way I am, I can't go into a race without trying to win," said Hannah to the Cairns Post. "But I would not have been disappointed if I hadn't won. I came to see what time I could ride and what I would have to do in training for the World Championships."

The break was both necessary and good for Hannah. "I'd raced bikes for 17 years up until then. I didn't touch a bike for 10 months. But by the end of the year I was starting to watch race results and getting charged about it."

Hannah is already looking toward some other events. He'll race the next round of the national series in Mt. Bulla and the World Cup opener in South African in April.