McConnell and Henderson win point-to-point race in Bright

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Chris Jongewaard (JetBlack Racing/Lightsview) and Tory Thomas were crowned the 2013 Subaru All Mountain Cup Australian National Series Champions in Bright, Victoria on Sunday.

Men overall

After winning the opening two events of the series, Jongewaard went into the weekend with a stranglehold on the AMC leader board and raced consistently to seal the series win.

"It's a sign of relief," Jongewaard said. "The season is basically done for me now - the whole plan for me this weekend was to just manage get over the line at the end of the AMC with no problems and I did that - so happy days."

Jongewaard claimed the men's cross country national title in Canberra last month and said his break following the win made it difficult to retain his stellar form.

"I had some niggles that I needed to rest," Jongewaard said. "I had a sore shoulder, and it was good to have time away from the bike."

"Two weeks is a long time to have off the bike, and I definitely lost a lot of form, I couldn't challenge anyone at the front of the field. [but] I had some fun this weekend, it's awesome fun coming back to Bright."

Women overall

In the women's series, a consistent Thomas was proud to have clinched the series in front of family and friends.

The mother of one and Mount Beauty local competed in all three rounds of the series to edge out London Olympian Rebecca Henderson (Trek Factory Racing) for the title.

"It's great, I've gone to every round and it's been great competition and I'm really happy with the result," Thomas said.

"When I started the series I was worried about getting lapped and as it went on I could use the other girls as a benchmark," the former Australian cross country champion said.

The win was made extra special with family and friends watching on including Thomas' two-year-old son Hamish.

"I live only 20 minutes away so this has been great. I had lots of locals all around the course today so it's been a great weekend," Thomas said of the final event of the series, the point to point.

Point-to-point action

In the weekend's final event - the point to point, it was Dan McConnell (Trek Factory Racing) and Henderson who mirrored their previous day's result in the cross country.

McConnell broke away from the field by the halfway mark and left a chasing Paul van der Ploeg and Jongewaard to consolidate the minor placing's.

"Once the race hit the fire road I got a bit of a gap," McConnell said. "It opened it up fairly quick so I could settle in and have some fun on the flowy trails."

McConnell's win allowed him to take out the weekend in Bright.

"Yesterday was the main goal to come away with the win and today is a bit of a bonus to seal the round win, I am pretty happy with how the form is," McConnell said.

In the women's field, Henderson made it a clean sweep of events in Bright to claim the round after her win in the point to point. Henderson took out the event, one minute ahead of Tory Thomas and 2:43 in front of Jenni King (Target Trek).

"I think the weekend went really well," Henderson said. "I'm really happy to be mixing it up with the best girls in Aus.

"Tory was really close to me but we couldn't even see each other on course, it was a mystery because I didn't know how close or how far away she was so I just tried to keep the pace on."

"As for the series, I'm really happy for Tory, she's a gun from way back and it's awesome to see her back and challenging us," Henderson said.

With the series now concluded, riders will head to Glenorchy, Tasmania over the Easter long weekend to compete in the Oceania Mountain Bike Championships.

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