Picton earns elite women's downhill title

National series leader Leonie Picton continued her clean sweep of the Australian domestic season by winning the elite women's downhill for her first national championship.

Starting the 2010-11 season with no podium performances, Picton has since posted wins at the Glenorchy, Mt Baw Baw and Mt Buller national series rounds and she did not disappoint with an impressive nationals performance at Eagle Mountain Bike Park.

The Maffra rider put everything she had on the line to take the win. "I made sure I pedaled my guts out, there was nothing left in the tank when I crossed the line. My legs are shaking, I am still shaking, it's so crazy. This is my first one, so I am ready to bawl my eyes out with excitement," Picton said.

"I had a very restless night last night just going over in my head what I can do to pick up those times. In my seeding run, I thought I did the best I could have done. Coming out today I had a good think about what I could improve on, walked the track this morning and picked up a few seconds."

Recovering from a fall near the finish, Canada's Claire Buchar finished with the second fastest time of 2:33.38, while Canberra's Julia Boer rounded out the top three with 2:37.24.

Full results

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Elite women
1Leonie Picton (Yarra Valley Cycles Kona Sram)0:02:31.27
2Claire Buchar0:02:33.38
3Julia Boer (Intense bikes, Onya Bike Tuggeranong)0:02:37.24
4Holly Baarspul (Kona Factory Team, Sram, Rock Shox, Avid, Mavic)0:02:38.77
5Genevieve McKew0:02:39.13
6Alyssa Lyons0:02:44.17
7Shelly Flood0:02:48.38
8Sarah Booth (Kona Factory Team, Sram, Rock Shox, Avid, Mavic)0:02:48.62
9Jolene Knight0:02:54.97
10Simmone Lyons0:03:05.55
11Natasha Bonney (spokes NT)0:03:33.42
DNSJulie Berry (Bikeology, Corsair Bikes and Bushwacker Fitness)Row 11 - Cell 2
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Under 19 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Emily Hockey0:02:59.34

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