English claims fourth consecutive Australian 24-hour solo title

World champion Jason English (NSW) took his fourth consecutive Australian 24-Hour Solo Mountain Bike Championship in Canberra today with a confident ride to record his second win in just seven days after securing a victory at the Australian Mountain Bike Marathon Championship in Queensland last weekend.

There was a surprise upset in the women's event, with Victoria's Joanne Wall defeating 2010 world champion Jess Douglas. Douglas later announced her plans to retire from 24-hour competition.

David Ludenia (NSW) laid down the early challenge in the open men's event and stayed with English for the first grueling nine hours before taking a narrow lead. In the second half of the race, the two were back together before English rode away and maintained a one lap lead to the end. Ludenia fell away allowing Stuart Brown (VIC) to move up into second position.

Stamping his authority on the top level of the podium once again, English said the win was a relief.

"Relieving is the way to describe it and I'm glad it's over. I'm pretty happy with winning green and gold jerseys two weekends in a row," English said.

"After the fast start and how much training I should be doing - in some ways I felt underdone."

"I felt he was pushing it too hard and maybe he would learn his mistake. I looked at my heart rate, and I kept doing my own thing. I was hoping that David's heart rate was a little higher."

"The pass didn't happen until night-time, a little gap formed and I used the opportunity to put a little pace on. I'd tested him a few times earlier and he started to slow down on the climbs so I used it to capitalize and he didn't come chasing this time."

"There's no rest from here, I'm off to the Dirtworks 100km race next weekend in New South Wales."

Up and coming endurance rider Wall put in a strong performance in the women's event to overcome exhaustion and a rugged Stromlo Forest Park track in what was her first 24-hour race.

Douglas led the field by up to 10 minutes for the first half of the ride until Wall turned it around significantly increasing the pace. By the 13-hour mark Wall sped past Douglas and maintained her speed while Douglas fell away and later crashed out of the event.

Wall stretched to a three-lap lead and pedaled to victory.

When asked about the win, Wall said she felt "elated, surprised, stoked and shattered at the same time".

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