Mountain Cross rider shines after fires
Caroline Buchanan has come out of the fires and is now a shining light in her sport of cycling. When the fires burnt out 500 homes around Canberra, Caroline was just 13 years old. Her family home was destroyed and the family lost everything only managing to save her bikes and trophies
Today is a different story. Buchanan won the Mountain Cross Nationals this year repeating her stunning performance from last year. She won on the area near her home that had been burnt out by the fires.
The government assisted in making the 1000 hectares that was once a pine forest into a state of the art forest park with multiple facilities. The Canberra Mountain Bike Club, CORC got involved and now Mt Stromlo Forest Park is the perfect training and racing facility for mountain bike riders like Caroline.
The first national event on these courses is being run this weekend with an official announcement expected tomorrow on the bid to hold the 2009 World Mountain Bike Championships.
Winning the elite men’s race was a welcome relief for Luke Madill. The 26 year old from Penrith finally succeeded in breaking a five year drought. “I’ve made the finals every year but this time it worked,” Madill said. “I knew I could match Jared’s speed,” said Madill. World Cup winner, Jared Graves FROM Toowoomba was unlucky with a crash in the second straight and finished fourth.
The Olympic discipline of cross country continues tomorrow with the elite men and women’s race starting at 10.30 am.
MTNX results are here.
__________________________________
Tony Scott
Executive Officer
Mountain Bike Australia
Caroline Buchanan has come out of the fires and is now a shining light in her sport of cycling. When the fires burnt out 500 homes around Canberra, Caroline was just 13 years old. Her family home was destroyed and the family lost everything only managing to save her bikes and trophies
Today is a different story. Buchanan won the Mountain Cross Nationals this year repeating her stunning performance from last year. She won on the area near her home that had been burnt out by the fires.
The government assisted in making the 1000 hectares that was once a pine forest into a state of the art forest park with multiple facilities. The Canberra Mountain Bike Club, CORC got involved and now Mt Stromlo Forest Park is the perfect training and racing facility for mountain bike riders like Caroline.
The first national event on these courses is being run this weekend with an official announcement expected tomorrow on the bid to hold the 2009 World Mountain Bike Championships.
Winning the elite men’s race was a welcome relief for Luke Madill. The 26 year old from Penrith finally succeeded in breaking a five year drought. “I’ve made the finals every year but this time it worked,” Madill said. “I knew I could match Jared’s speed,” said Madill. World Cup winner, Jared Graves FROM Toowoomba was unlucky with a crash in the second straight and finished fourth.
The Olympic discipline of cross country continues tomorrow with the elite men and women’s race starting at 10.30 am.
MTNX results are here.
__________________________________
Tony Scott
Executive Officer
Mountain Bike Australia
