The 2019 MTBA National Downhill Champs have been run and won in Bright over the 4th - 7th of April kicking off a huge season of downhill ahead. We the Riders recap an epic weekend of racing which included World UCI contenders Troy Brosnan, Dean Lucas and Mick Hannah to name a few, all were out to get some time between the tape before worlds kick off. Here's how it went down...
Running fresh and previously never raced sections mixed with the OG Mystic Trail had riders stoked on the track and conditions for the weekend of racing ahead of them. Situated in Mystic Mountain Bike Park the trail descends just over 400m and just over 2km long.
Best described as steep, rough and rocky, riders had to be on their game to stay up right and not end up OTB or with the dreaded mechanical.
The fields in both male and female categories were stacked with World Cup seasoned pros and up and coming young shredders. With rain Friday night the trails were prime Saturday morning but soon turned to bull dust in places with dry conditions.
Seeding took place Saturday afternoon with Tracey Hannah and Troy Brosnan taking out the top spots ready to attack the Sunday final.
We The Riders backed Shane Oravsky took on the expert field and took second place by the narrowest of margins of just 0.145 seconds. Remy Meier-Smith another We The Riders backed shredder pinned his way to a second place in the U17 mens field with a time well in the top 25 elite, the future is looking bright for Remy.
Cassie Voysey contested the U19 womens division and took the win with a 4:35.823 which would have seen a 6th place in the elite women class which is quite a feat at 17.
U19 men had Joshua Arcus taking out 3rd place, We the Riders ambassador Luke Meier-Smith into 2nd and World Cup junior Kye A'Hern taking out the top spot.
Shane, Remy, Luke and Cassie were all sporting the freshly released Nation Downhill Jersey over the weekend, which you can purchase direct from the We the Riders store.
Elite women podium saw many world cup regulars stood upon it with Danielle Beecroft in 5th and Ellie Smith in 4th with 3rd place taken out by Tegan Molloy. The 1st and 2nd places were just 0.535 seconds apart with Tracey Hannah taking the honours over the up and coming Sian A'Hearn.
Elite men saw a super stacked field with World Cup regular Mick Hannah, Jackson White, Jack Moir, Aaron Gungl and Oliver Zwar taking the 10th though to 6th places, fifth place was secured by Ben Zwar on his new Santa Cruz V10 29er, 4th place was Jackson Frew with his Kona Factory team mate Connor Fearon taking out 3rd place. 2nd place went to the newly formed Scott Downhill Factory Team rider Dean Lucas on his yet to be released downhill rig. But top honours went to the reigning champ from South Australia Troy Brosnan, the perfect start to his World Cup tilt.
View the full gallery of photos from the event here!
Written by Simon Noble
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