Graves and Mullens win Australian eliminator championships

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Jared Graves and Peta Mullens are the newly crowned Australian Eliminator National Champions.

Elite men

The elite men's eliminator was the very much "the Jared Graves show". Graves has excelled in every off-road cycling discipline, including being a BMX Olympian and a four cross world champion.

Graves sprinted hard from the start and entertained the large crowd with his enduro pre-season power. He won convincingly from a talented field including newly-crowned cross country champion McConnell, who would place second and Australian National Series Eliminator Champion Cameron Ivory, who rounded out the top three.

"The discipline suits me pretty well after spending years as a sprinter, I'm always happy to get a win."

Russ Baker, President of Mountain Bike Australia, the organisation delivering the championships, reflected on the event. "It's been a very successful national championship with great racing, amazing courses and the perfect host town. Today saw high speed action in both the eliminator and downhill where Australia's best athletes excited the crowd at Bright."

Elite women

The elite women's final included short course legend Rowena Fry, 2013 Australian Cross Country National Champion Peta Mullens, 2013 Marathon winner Jenny Fay and newly-crowned U19 Cross Country winner Holly Harris.

Racing was fast and furious, and Fry led riders out onto course, but the real action was in the final straight. Fry and Parkes led the group, and a battle ensued between the two.

Mullens showed her road form and put the power down in an outside move to outsprint Fry and Parkes and take the win. Fry would finish second by half a bike length, and Parkes took third.

Mullens was almost shocked. "It was a little bit of a surprise, not my main focus for the weekend but I came with some pretty good form and a little bit of tarmac helped me get across the line."

Race note

Australia celebrated its first world champion in the eliminator discipline with local Mount Beauty rider Paul Van Der Ploeg winning in South Africa. Recovering from shoulder surgery, the popular Van Der Ploeg was on site and provided expert commentary on racing action.

Full Results