Weather conditions at Thredbo caused cancellations of the Downhill seeding run. UCI Chief Commisaire, Derek McCarthy made the decision at 2.54 pm to cancel the ranking run for all the elite and Under 19 riders.
Temperature is 8.3 degrees and with the wind chill factor or minus 3.
“Already since we made the decision and since then it has already dropped one degree,” said McCarthy.
“The decision was made on safety with a cold front coming through and they are predicting snow,” he said.
By late afternoon the temperature plummeted to 2 degrees.
Several elite riders had done practice runs in the rain but all agreed with the decision.
In the morning the Under 19 Olympic Cross Country riders headed out into heavy rain.
Mt Beauty’s Paul van der Ploeg delivered yet another dominant display to claim the Oceania Championships Under 19 Men’s Title over five laps of a grueling Thredbo course.
In the driving rain van der Ploeg, of Mt Beauty, lead the field by almost two minutes after just one lap and, while his lap times gradually increased in comparison to Canberra’s Nathan Hass’s consistent laps, the reigning National Champion was never worried.
Hass was himself well clear of Peter Braunsteins, who spent the early laps in a battle for third with leading New Zealand rider Connor MacFarlane (NZ).
New Zealand’s national champion, James Williamson suffered in the wet conditions and was only able to finish 7th.
While the New Zealanders presented a polished team in their matching Silver Fern uniforms, they were unable to make any kind of dent on the outstanding performance of van der Ploeg, who remains unbeaten in the under 19’s over the Australian season.
With fine conditions expected tomorrow the elite Olympic Cross Country will gets underway early withe the elite women followed by the elite men. The downhill race will be run now as a final run with the track expected to be slippery.
For further info
Sharon Payne
Media Manager
Mountain Bike Australia
Temperature is 8.3 degrees and with the wind chill factor or minus 3.
“Already since we made the decision and since then it has already dropped one degree,” said McCarthy.
“The decision was made on safety with a cold front coming through and they are predicting snow,” he said.
By late afternoon the temperature plummeted to 2 degrees.
Several elite riders had done practice runs in the rain but all agreed with the decision.
In the morning the Under 19 Olympic Cross Country riders headed out into heavy rain.
Mt Beauty’s Paul van der Ploeg delivered yet another dominant display to claim the Oceania Championships Under 19 Men’s Title over five laps of a grueling Thredbo course.
In the driving rain van der Ploeg, of Mt Beauty, lead the field by almost two minutes after just one lap and, while his lap times gradually increased in comparison to Canberra’s Nathan Hass’s consistent laps, the reigning National Champion was never worried.
Hass was himself well clear of Peter Braunsteins, who spent the early laps in a battle for third with leading New Zealand rider Connor MacFarlane (NZ).
New Zealand’s national champion, James Williamson suffered in the wet conditions and was only able to finish 7th.
While the New Zealanders presented a polished team in their matching Silver Fern uniforms, they were unable to make any kind of dent on the outstanding performance of van der Ploeg, who remains unbeaten in the under 19’s over the Australian season.
With fine conditions expected tomorrow the elite Olympic Cross Country will gets underway early withe the elite women followed by the elite men. The downhill race will be run now as a final run with the track expected to be slippery.
For further info
Sharon Payne
Media Manager
Mountain Bike Australia
