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Cyclocross newcomer Katherine Hosking (Orbea Girls’s Racing) and long-time contender Chris Aitken (MAAP/Sixpence Espresso CX) rode their manner into the inexperienced and gold bands of nationwide champions on Saturday, claiming the elite victories on the AusCycling Cyclocross Nationwide Championships on a muddy course in Ballarat.
Mountain biker Hosking, who threw herself into cyclocross this season, relished the situations, with rain leaving rivals waking as much as slippery, sticky, drivetrain coating mud. She took off out the entrance early and held agency out the entrance to say a solo victory, crossing the road 30 seconds forward of her nearest rival, Miranda Griffiths.
“I had little or no expectations coming into this race and after I noticed the mud this morning I used to be simply going to have a very good day,” stated Hosking in an announcement from AusCycling. “I didn’t actually care what was going to occur I actually can’t imagine it I didn’t anticipate it in any respect,” she stated after claiming the title.
There was a battle for the ultimate place on the rostrum between two former Australian cyclocross champions, Peta Mullens (Roxsolt Liv SRAM) – 2018 and 2019 winner – and Bec Locke – 2022 and 2016 winner. Ultimately it was Mullens who claimed third behind Griffiths whereas Locke held agency for fourth place.
Within the males’s race Aitken introduced his long term of silver and bronze medals within the elite class to an finish. As a substitute he made it to the highest step, driving into the jersey of the Australian cyclocross champion that he final claimed as an U23 in 2015. Aitken took his first elite cyclocross title with a 19 second margin over the road to nearest rival Nick Smith (Duke Flanders Racing).
“It’s good to get the win. I’ve labored arduous this 12 months and it actually got here right down to a little bit of teamwork within the pits there,” stated Aitken in an AusCycling launch. “It was so muddy like final 12 months, and we have been altering bikes each lap. Should you have been working one bike on the market, hats off to you, you have been doing very well. I used to be struggling to maintain my gears from leaping off even with a brand new bike each lap.”
Aitken’s former long-time rival and now MAAP/Sixpence Espresso teammate, Garry Millburn, was third as he crossed the road simply over a minute again and with final 12 months’s champion, Tom Chapman (Crew BridgeLane) simply 11 seconds additional behind.
Three-time Western Australian cyclocross champion Tristan Nash added the U23 males’s nationwide title to his outcomes listing, with the 20-year-old additionally having taken second place on the Australian U23 highway championships in January. Sophie Sutton took out the ladies’s U23 title forward of Ruby Dobson, whereas Sam Northey and Ruby Taylor claimed the junior titles.
| Place | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Aitken | 1:04:48 |
| 2 | Nicholas Smith | +21 |
| 3 | Garry Millburn | +01:26 |
| 4 | Tom Chapman | 01:37 |
| 5 | Harrison Bebbington | +08:32 |
| Place | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Katherine Hosking | 53:24 |
| 2 | Miranda Griffiths | +30 |
| 3 | Peta Mullens | +01:34 |
| 4 | Rebecca Locke | +01:50 |
| 5 | Fiona Morris | +04:28 |