Two new national champions crowned on opening day of racing at MBNats23

09 Feb 2023 | 06:44 PMBy: Kirrily Carberry

Wet and slippery conditions added to the drama of an exciting opening day of racing at the 2023 AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships in Thredbo.

E-MTB XC

Jon Odams and Jess Hoskin are the new E-MTB XC National Champions, claiming the Elite men's and women's titles respectively on the first day of racing at AusCycling MTB National Championships at Thredbo.

Steady rain in the morning added an extra challenge for riders, with the slippery conditions making it difficult to find traction at times.

Odams (Southern Cycle Club NSW) led early in the men’s race, with Brendan Johnston and Caleb Dodds working hard to bridge the gap.

However, Odams stayed away from trouble and held off field for the five laps to cross the line in first position with a time of 01:08:04.

“It was a pretty amazing race, really technical, and with the wet - real slick conditions. And just to pedal as hard as you can up the hill every lap,” Odams said.

“It was just ride as hard as I could, keep upright, stay smooth and try not to make too many mistakes.”

The battle for second and third came down to a sprint finish between Dodds and Johnston, whose battery on his e-bike had died on the final lap.

Dodds managed to get ahead of Johnston on the finishing straight to claim silver with a time of 01:11:47, and Johnston rounding out the podium in 01:11:52.

winners — *Jess Hoskin and Jon Odams. Picture: Matt Rousu*

In the women’s race, Jess Hoskin (Caloundra Off Road Cycling Association) blew the rest of the competition away from the start and never relinquished the lead.

Hoskin stopped the clock at 01:00:01 after four laps, ahead of Caroline Buchanan in second (01:06:42) and Mielke Connor in third (01:08:47).

“I was first to the top of the hill and cruised my way through the technical bits,” Hoskin said.

“It was pretty slippery out there; it was definitely an exciting.”

Open XC Relay

Sam Fox bought home the gold for his team of Katherine Hosking, Eddie Willis and David Winfield in a nail-biting finish of the Open XC Team Relay.

Aptly named ‘Defending Champs’, the 2022 champions returned to Thredbo to claim back-to-back titles with a time of 00:37:21.

“We decided to call it our relay team now this year, so the pressure was on,” Fox said after the race.

“I don’t think I bought it home. I just think these guys had me close enough that it was possible.”

Fox, the last rider for Defending Champs, had some work to do to bridge the gap to the leaders on the bell lap.

“The other teams all left their quicker riders out there earlier to get an early gap, and it made for a really exciting last lap. I was working really hard to hunt them down and caught them through the single track so it was really tight racing through there.”

Just two seconds behind were the HeroDirt Coaching team of Harry Doye, Zoe Cuthbert, Angus Neaves and Dominic Burton, while the Duke Racing Wheelers team of Kathryn McInerney, Cohen Jessen, Domenic Paolilli and Robin Adams took out the bronze a further two seconds back.

Adaptive XC

A two-man battle in the adaptive MTB category kicked off the 2023 AusCycling National Mountain Bike Championships.

Dean McSporran (C2 Men) led after the opening lap, and held on for the win over Josh Lindenthaler (Tx Men) who suffered mechanical issues.

McSporran finished the three laps in a time of 01:01:48 ahead of Lindenthaler on 01:13:34.

“You had to go hard going down hill, because going up hill you just can’t get traction,” McSporran said.

It was McSporran’s first race who started racing MTB competitively about 6-months ago.

See full results here.

More information about the 2023 AusCycling MTB National Championships.

The 2023 AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championship