Ivory and Fry win eliminator final round at Australian National Series

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Moama Mountain Bike park served up perfect eliminator action to a large crowd gathered on the banks of Murray River in Southern NSW.  At the end of the day, Cameron Ivory and Rowena Fry won the final round of racing while Ivory and Emily Parkes took top honors in the overall series.

Elite men

The elite men's racing was fast and furious, and four riders in the final attacked the first climb together as a group: Cameron Ivory, Nicholas Morgan, Sebastian Jayne and Ben Forbes.

The four riders raced wheel on wheel throughout, and a massive sprint started when riders first saw the finish line. Ivory would back up yesterday's series win to take both today's eliminator race and the national series for the elite men.

A modest Ivory reflected on taking the series win in both the eliminator and cross country formats. "I'm a little bit surprised again, I'm quite happy," said Ivory. "It's a huge step up for me. It's the year to do it with Commonwealth Games selections, and also I'm aiming for a spot on the world championships team."

Elite women

The elite women's racing featured former short track national champion Rowena Fry, Olympian Rebecca Henderson and young guns Emily Parkes and Holly Harris.

Fry and Parkes established a lead early and would battle it out around the course, but in a finish line sprint, Fry would hold out Parkes for the win.

Parkes took second in every round of the series in amazingly close racing and her performance today secured her the national series title

"It's fantastic to take the win, it's great motivation to take into the national champs," said Parkes, who enjoys the eliminator discipline. "I like the close racing, the competitiveness and the courses are usually pretty technical."

Russ Baker, President of Mountain Bike Australia, said, "It's been a successful 2014 series. I'd like to thank all of the riders for supporting MTBA in running the series for them. It has provided an excellent platform for both our developing riders and those heading overseas to international competition."

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