Lots of great stuff to read this week! Have you subscribed to the latest MMBCC News? Enter your details on the Homepage…
2023 Annual General Meeting
The MMBCC Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 6 September, in the function room at the Mansfield Hotel. The meeting will begin at 7pm.
This is your chance to have your say and get involved! All the Executive Committee positions will be declared vacant and nominations are open to members.
Bookings are available for dinner from 6pm but an RSVP is required. You can do this via email to Bruce by Sunday 3 September.
2023 Glasgow World Championships Wrap Up
DOWNHILL - Fort William, Scotland.
By Dave Empey
Two Mansfield riders raced the 2024 Downhill World championships at Fort William this year. The course is the longest and one of the most brutal on the World Cup Circuit and usually has the worst weather. Nathan Dabbs and Elise Empey raced in the green and gold and both performed well in the toughest event on the calendar.
Nathan raced to a very credible 46th in the Junior Men category. Given this was his first international race, it was a very good result. He has stayed on in Europe to continue his racing with another 3 World Cups on the agenda over the next three weeks. These races will be held in Andorra, Loudenville in France, and Les Gets in France.
Elise raced her second World Championships however it was her first in Elite women. She came across the line in a very credible 24th position. This was Elise’s first real test post a serious shoulder injury. It was very pleasing to see her race well. She now will join the rest of her team in Andorra for the remaining five World Cup races.
Elise’s elder brother Matthew, was the performance coach for the Auscycling National Junior Downhill team. He will also join his sister in Andorra to race the final five World Cups with his team.
ROAD - Belgium and Glasgow, Scotland
By Talia Appleton
In the middle of July, I flew to Europe for a three week trip that included three races in Belgium as part of a two week training camp followed by 4 days in Glasgow for the world championships. It was my first trip to Europe, and the first time racing abroad. We were staying around an hour away from Brussels in Oudenaarde, in the heart of the Flanders region where the under 19 Australian team was based. The team consisted of 7 boys and 6 girls, some of whom were going on to Glasgow and others heading to Trinidad and Tobago for the Commonwealth youth games.
The warm up races in Belgium went well. They were open age kermesse’s on 8-14km circuits with distances between 70 and 95 km and strong fields of up to 115 riders in the peloton. I stayed out of trouble and upright and concentrated on adjusting to the radically different racing format in Europe. Narrow roads, cobble stones, road furniture, curbs and always aggressively fighting for the front.
In the first race I sat tight in the peloton, readjusting to racing before I found more confidence and a more aggressive racing style in the next race. This race suited me the best, as there were a few punchy hills in the lap. I finished in the peloton, and you can watch 6 minutes of highlights using this link to Facebook.
The third race I was really finding my stride, despite there only being 20m of climbing over the 95km race! This was the biggest race in terms of starters - 115 and a few World Tour riders who were all doing their final preparations before Glasgow. You can watch the highlights by clicking this link. At about 20km to go a break of 4 riders went off the front, but the peloton was strung out at the time and I wasn’t aware of it. I didn’t want to wait for the bunch sprint and found myself at the front with 13km to go, and attacked off the front solo. However I was stuck in no man's land between the break and the peloton, eventually finishing 5th, one minute behind the break and 40 seconds in front of the peloton. This was a reassuring result only 6 days out from the road race in Glasgow.
We flew into Glasgow on the Wednesday before the Saturday race, eventually arriving after a 13 hour travel day due to a missed connection. Just enough time to settle in, get the Aussie kit, and ride the circuit on Friday morning. It was super cool to be staying in the same hotel as the elite road riders and using the Jayco team bus to travel to the race, as well as doing the closed course recon with the elite men. Fortunately, the race started at 10am this year, which meant you didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. It was a viciously intense race with many hazards like off camber corners, a pavè section, a short cobblestone section, and lots of manholes and drains which became slippery in the rain. I fought hard but the repetitive sprinting out of every corner (52 per ~14km lap!) took its toll and I finished 19th, in the second large bunch behind the solo winner. A result I am satisfied with.
I would like to thank Donna Rae-Szalinski, the team manager from AusCycling for organising the trip and my parents for financing the trip (even though it is the Australian team, the juniors are self funded.) And MMBCC for both the financial support you have given me this year, and all the cheering you did during the race!
BMX - Glasgow, Scotland
By Adam Baker
Attending the Worlds has been a long time coming for a 47 year old who has now qualified four times! (The previous three missed due to travel restrictions or injury.)
Coming into the meet I’d been recovering from a hip dislocation (racing DH in November) and with minimal training coming into the event, I had no expectations of a result or even making it out of the motos phase.
With a tough gate draw for the motos (1, 7, 8 and with the track favouring gate 3 - 5 for best position from the start of each race) racing went well from the start on a technical and long track.
Placing 4th in the first two motos, I needed another 4th place to ensure that I progressed to the 1/4 final phase. Starting from gate 8, I made hard work of it, having to come across from the outside and in a stacked moto (with the eventual winner, 3rd and 4th placed riders in the final) I hit the corner in 5th having to dice for positions with two other riders to eventually take 4th by the slimmest of margins.
The 1/4 final would see the first four make it through to the semis. Once again I was up against the eventual winner of the event, and again drawing gate 8, made it really tough. After a poor start and slipping a pedal in the first straight, I pushed to make up ground on the field but fell short. So I slowed in the third straight to soak up a bit of the atmosphere of the event.
Making it through to the quarter finals was an achievement way above expectations! I was also lucky enough to make it up to Fort William to see fellow locals Elise Empey and Nathan Dabbs doing their thing at the Downhill.
Pic 1: Battling for fourth in Moto 3. Pic 2: The start gate of the quarter final. Pic 3: Enjoying the moment on the third straight.
Ruby rides Cross
Congratulations to Ruby Dobson who rode the Australian and Victorian CX Championships last weekend at Ballarat. She won silver in the Australian Under 23 titles on Saturday, then backed it up by winning gold at the Victorian U23 titles on Sunday. Awesome!
Big shout out too to former MMBCC member and all-round good bloke (apart from his choice of football team) Brett Kellett who took out the Australian Masters 6 CX Championship. Good onya Bretto!
Mansfield Hotel Tour p/b Orcoda
Mansfield Mount Buller Cycling Club and Alpine Cycling Club have formed a strategic alliance to support each other in delivering and promoting our fantastic races. Below is a poster (and flyer) which Jarrod has had printed which you should all see a bit more of in the coming months.
