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Jason English (Australia)celebrates his win with a wheelie (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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An exhausted Jess Douglas after her win (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Race progress graph for the top 20 elite men. After 5.5 hours, Jason English had a lead on Thomas Widhalm that would never be closed. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Rachel Edwards (Australia) leasds the Women's 35-39 category (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Returning from the Le Mans run, Jason English (Australia) leads out the field. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Riders get underway with the traditional le Mans start to Worlds. Jason English is on the right in the Australian champion's jersey. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Riders had to concentrate throughout the night as some periods of rain made the track slippery (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Some of the newly crowned elite and age group champions (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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The race crew gets ready for a long night (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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The view from Savona from the eastern end of the 17.16km loop (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Thomas Hebestreit (Germany) passes through one of the vineyards on course (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Thomas Widhalm (Austria) (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Thomas Widhalm (Austria) leads Jason English (Australia) early in the race. They stayed together for several hours. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Thomas Widhalm leads Jason English through the vineyard early in the race (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Views like this provided a major distraction for riders in the race (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Race progress graph for the elite women. Jess Douglas and Rickie Cotter stayed together for 9 hours before Rickie fell back. Third placed Megan recovered from a bad start to come on strong later. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Overall men's results - page 4 (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Andrew Clark (Australia) leads the men's U23 race near the feed zone (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Ausilia Vistarini (Italy) races on a singlespeed (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Elite men's podium: 4th - Michael Kochendorfer (Germany); 2nd Jason Miles (Great Britain); 1st - Jason English (Australia); 3rd - Craig Bowles (Great Britain) (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Elite women's podium: 4th - Giuliana Massarotto (Italy); 3rd - Megan Dimozantos (New Zealand); 1st Jess Douglas (Australia); 2nd - Rickie Cotter (Great Britain); 5th - Lisa Kamphausen (Germany) (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Jason English (Australia) on his way to a win. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Jess Douglas (Australia) on her way to becoming the women's world champion. She leaves the feed zone while Jenni English is busy supporting her husband Jason English. (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Jess Douglas (Australia) crosses the line to take the women's title (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Mirja Martin (Germany) in fourth in the women's 35-39 (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Overall female results (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Overall men's results page 1 (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Overall men's results page 2 (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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Overall men's results - page 3 (Image credit: Russ Baker)

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World Champions Jason English and Jessica Douglas with Riccardo Negro from the organizing team (Image credit: Russ Baker)

Australia riders Jason English and Jessica Douglas became the first WEMBO 24-hour solo mountain bike racing world champions in the toughest single-day mountain bike race in the world. 136 riders from 15 nations gathered at Finale Ligure, Italy to decide who was the best of the best.

The Finale Ligure course is well known by Europe's 24-hour riders, having hosted events for over a decade, but it was the first time English and Douglas had ridden on Italian soil. The Ligurian coast provided a spectacular setting for the race, with many international riders staying after the race to enjoy the area.

In the men's race, Australian champion English completed 22 laps of the challenging course to take the win, while Douglas tackled Rickie Cotter (United Kingdom) to take the women's title.

In early running, Thomas Widhalm (Austria) lead the field with English a bike length behind for the first five and a half hours, but after losing time to a mechanical just before sunset, Widhalm's misery was compounded by a stomach complaint which eventually took him out of the race. But English had begun to mark his dominance before that. While Widhalm was dealing with his mechanical, English put in two blistering laps to pull out a sizeable lead going into the night. By the time racing finished at 13:00 on Sunday, he had completed 22 laps of the 17.16km course - just under 380km in 24 hours. Through the night England's Jason Miles put in a heroic performance to rise through the field to take second place. A consistent ride from fellow countryman Craig Bowles was good enough for the third step of the podium.

With the women, it was a closer race and in early running Cotter pushed Douglas hard as they drew away from the field. The two leaders split at the nine-hour mark and as the night wore on, Douglas extended her lead little by little. By the morning her lead had grown to about 50 minutes and Cotter couldn't close in. Megan Dimozantos (New Zealand) completed the elite women's podium.

The 2013 WEMBO 24-hour solo world championships will take place in Canberra, Australia in October and then return to the northern hemisphere to Fort William in Scotland in October 2014.

The following video is filmed and edited by RITM - Rock In The Middle. Music is by Survival - Moon Furies and We singing - Frank Sent Us.

Full Results

Elite men
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Jason English (Australia)	22	laps
2	Jason Miles (Great Britain)	21
3	Craig Bowles (Great Britain)	21
4	Michael Kochendörfer (Germany)	20
5	Matthew Warner-Smith (France)	20
6	Philip Simcock (Great Britain)	20
7	Dave Powell (Great Britain)	20
8	Bruno Sombreireiro Gomes (Portugal)	19
9	Stefan Hutmacher (Switzerland)	18
10	Matteo Melis (Italy)	17
11	Josué Duarte (Portugal)	17
12	Stefano Bergeretti (Italy)	16
13	Kristof Stes (Belgium)	16
14	Thomas Widhalm (Austria)	15
15	Marco Maurizio (Italy)	15
16	Andrew Howett (Great Britain)	15
17	Markus Hager (Germany)	14
18	Jochen Waldherr (Austria)	14
19	Jaume Ribosa de Gracias (Spain)	13
20	Daniele Bormida (Italy)	12
21	Christian Kaiser (Germany)	11
22	Morgan Pilley (Australia)	10
23	Renè Manse (France)	9
24	Marcus Wallmeyer (Germany)	9
25	Juergen Jansen (Germany)	9
26	Felix Breske (Germany)	9
27	Paolo Laureti (Italy)	9
28	Rudolf Springer (Austria)	7
29	Alessio Bisio (Italy)	7
30	Tom Haacke (Germany)	6
31	Tom Van de Velde (Belgium)	5
32	Michael Kalivoda (Germany)	4

Elite women
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Jessica Douglas (Australia)	19	laps
2	Rickie Cotter (Great Britain)	18
3	Megan Dimozantos (New Zealand)	17
4	Giuliana Massarotto (Italy)	16
5	Lisa Kamphausen (Germany)	15
6	Mona Petrie (SCO)	12
7	Silvia Accinelli (Italy)	9
8	Noemia Lopes (Spain)	6
9	Elena Perin (Italy)	3

Singlespeed men
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Matt Powell (Australia)	17	laps
2	Enrico Morvillo (Italy)	17
3	Francesco Cerchio (Italy)	16
4	MARÇAL Font Solà (Spain)	11
5	Ambrogio Grillo (Italy)	9

Singlespeed women
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Ausilia Vistarini (Italy)	14	laps
2	Carolina Casacuberta (Spain)	10
3	Bec Parkes (Australia)	5

U23 men
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Andrew Clark (Australia)	15	laps
2	Giorgio Rebori (Italy)	12
3	Jacopo Ciccarelli (Italy)	4

Men 23-29
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Kai Saaler (Germany)	18	laps
2	Mattia Iulini (Italy)	14
3	Christopher Simon (Germany)	13
4	Jason Harrod (Australia)	12
5	Tobias Simon (Germany)	10
6	Roberto Sanna (Italy)	10
7	Federico Scotto (Italy)	8

Men 30-34
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Alexis Matthys (Belgium)	19	laps
2	Simone Arici (Italy)	17
3	Anton Friedrich (Germany)	15
4	Alessandro Filippini (Italy)	14
5	Matteo Spagnol (Italy)	12
6	Alessio Dalser (Italy)	10
7	Sven Rhenisch (Germany)	8
8	Tobias Bachsteffel (Germany)	7
9	Christopher Thompson (United States Of America)	5
10	Daniele Saccoman (Italy)	3

Women 30-34
#	Rider Name (Country) Team
1	Silvia Müller (Germany)	17	laps

Men 35-39
#	Rider Name (Country) Team
1	Marco Nicoletti (Italy)	19	laps
2	Davide Arici (Italy)	18
3	Crstian Ragnoli (Italy)	17
4	Marco Vogliotti (Italy)	15
5	Marco Tamagnone (Italy)	14
6	Thomas Hebestreit (Germany)	14
7	James Heraty (Great Britain)	14
8	Dominik Scherer (Germany)	11
9	Matteo Messina (Italy)	9
10	Luca Frioli (Italy)	9
11	Diego Drago (Italy)	8
12	Mauro Vanoli (Italy)	7
13	Pablo Barnes (Argentina)	7
14	Massino Pantusa (Italy)	7
15	Pantaleone Locane (Italy)	6
16	Andi Beger (Germany)	5

Women 35-39
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Rachel Edwards (Australia)	16	laps
2	Ilaria Balzarotti (Italy)	16
3	Jane Chadwick (Great Britain)	15
4	Mirja Martin (Germany)	13

Men 40-44
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Pere Sanchez (Spain)	19	laps
2	Phil Welch (Australia)	18
3	Fabrizio Valle (Italy)	16
4	Valter Di Cesare (Italy)	16
5	Luca Bausone (Italy)	14
6	Giuseppe Bolzoni (Italy)	12
7	Manuel Minola Violino (Italy)	12
8	Stefano Ariu (Italy)	12
9	Stefano Catella (Italy)	12
10	Antonio Zannoner (Italy)	10
11	Cristian Ciccarelli (Italy)	10
12	Markus Hahn (Austria)	9
13	Matteo Luchini (Italy)	9
14	Gabriele Canepa (Italy)	8
15	Clayton Locke (Australia)	8
16	Davide Giribaldi (Italy)	8
17	Andrea Bertani (Italy)	6
18	Rainer Buschmeier (Germany)	6

Women 40-44
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Merryl King (Australia)	13	laps
2	Eva Maria Fünfgeld (Germany)	7

Men 45-49
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Alberto Zambelli (Italy)	20	laps
2	Ugo Sirigu (Italy)	15
3	Jaume Caixas (Spain)	15
4	Hubertus Hohl (Germany)	14
5	Marco Moriconi (Italy)	12
6	Marco Copelli (Italy)	9
7	Marco Giacobone (Italy)	8
8	Luciano D'Aniello (Italy)	8
9	Davide Pistaceci (Italy)	7
10	Alberto Zanardelli (Italy)	3

Men 50-54
#	Rider Name (Country)	Result
1	Neil Dall (Australia)	17	laps
2	Markus Meier (Switzerland)	16
3	Samuel Burkart (Switzerland)	16
4	Andrea Oreste Banchieri (Italy)	14
5	Pietro Bandinelli (Italy)	8
6	Carlo Bridi (Italy)	3