Jongewaard defends Flight Centre Epic title

South Australian Chris Jongewaard has made it back-to-back wins in the Flight Centre Epic mountain bike marathon in South-East Queensland, Australia, on Sunday, August 23.

The four-time national Australian champion took four hours, 25 minutes and 32 seconds to complete the 100km event, which was held in heatwave conditions on a course along the Bicentennial National Trail at Old Hidden Vale in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane. Brisbane's Jodie Willett won the women's 100km event.

Jongewaard, 30, competed in the Epic after facing trial in Adelaide last week on charges of causing serious harm by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident. He was found guilty of aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident. He was found not guilty of causing serious harm by dangerous driving, the original charge which the four time national champion pled not guilty to.

Queensland's Peter Herzig finished almost 20 minutes behind Jongewaard in second place while South Australian Brett Anderson was third.

Results

Willett won the women's event in 5:27:47 with Naomi Hansen of the Sunshine Coast more than 15 minutes behind in second place and Susan Sim in third.

Jongewaard and Willett have both been selected in the Australian team to compete in the UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships in Canberra starting September 1.

About 1,000 riders competed in the seventh staging of the Epic, with the field having to battle temperatures in the low 30s (degrees Celsius) in the events ranging from the 50km Merida Pursuit to the 100km Epic marathon.

Among the competitors were riders from the Australian Defence Force, who used the Epic for their own national mountain bike titles.