National Round 1 - Thredbo 11 Dec 2011

The first of the National Rounds arrived nice and close to home too.  Both boys have now moved up a division, Andrew into U17's and Thomas into U19's at National level.  Andrew decided to do the Rando/Corey clinic at Thredbo on Thursday before race where he said he learned a lot and picked up a few good tips.  The whole family headed to Thredbo on Friday for a day of practice and to check into the lodge.  Practice went well on Friday with the track quite dry and dusty.  Both boys got in some good runs but because they know the track so well, didn't need to bust themselves.

Saturday practice saw another day of fine weather.  Group B practice started at 8:30am with seeding starting at 11am.  Mum and Dad had to attend a wedding in Braidwood on Saturday afternoon so were able to watch Andrew's seeding run before quickly heading out to make the big trek to the wedding.  Andrew had an absolute blinder of a seeding run and finished in a time of 5:49.14 which was about 20 seconds faster than his run at the CORC round 2 weeks prior and also 19 seconds faster than the second placed U17 rider.  As it turned out Andrew's time was the fastest in Group B (also only just over 1second slower than Sam Hill's seeding run in the arvo haha).

Thomas's seeding run was going well until he hit a tree which slowed him down a bit but he still managed to finish with the third fastest seeding time so he was happy with that.  He knew he could pick up a bit of time for race tomorrow.  Funny thing is that Andrew's seeding time was 0.02 second faster than Thomas' and didn't he let him know it!!  Pretty much all night actually.  Lucky Mum & Dad were in Braidwood.

Saturday night saw some heavy rain with showers clearing in the morning.  Thomas was hoping that it would rain all night and all day as he loves the mud.  Not so much Andrew.  With the clouds threatening all morning, lucky for us the rain held off for Andrew's race run.  As Andrew was the fastest seeded rider in U17's he was the last rider down not only for U17's but for the whole of Group B.  Very nerve wracking for us parents standing around waiting.  Waiting for Andrew to come out of the scrub, watching the clock, we could see his seeding time come and go but still no Andrew.  Next thing here he comes, pedalling and jumping hard, it was going to be close to Joel's time, could he do it?  YES, he crossed the line and took the win by 2 seconds.  As it turns out, Andrew actually took a 'digger' in his race run, went over the bars and broke his gear lever, a bit of bark off but still managed to get back on and keep going.  Just goes to show, you should never give up even after a crash.

Group A practice in the afternoon saw some showers which at times looked like it could turn into heavy rain but luckily it didn't.  As the U19's started coming down the track, so did the rain.  We were all thinking if the rain got heavier as the riders went through, the top guys might end up racing on a totally different track than the earlier riders.  But luckily that didn't happen.  As Connor Fearon didn't finish his seeding run on Saturday, he was the third rider to come down the track and as expected, took the hot seat.  With only 3 riders left that might be able to knock Connor out of the seat, here came Thomas, out of the bushes, this was going to be close but yes, he came over the finish line to claim the hot seat.  Sooo stoked.  With only 2 more riders to come, Thomas new he had a podium position. Thomas' time ended up being beaten by only 0.68 second to see him finish in 2nd place in his first ever National Round in Under 19's.  There was only 2 first year U19 riders in the top ten so Thomas was really happy with his efforts as were the whole family.

Due to Thomas' fantastic result, he has now been told that he is on the Junior Worlds long team and will be going into camp for the next round at Mt Buller.  We are all so very proud of Thomas as this is what he's been working towards for the last 2 years.  He now just needs to continue getting good results and will then end up representing Australia at the World Championships in Leogang, Austria in September 2012.

Vic State Round 2 - Mt Major, Shepparton 6 Nov 2011

While Thomas stayed home to study for his Year 10 School Certificate Exams, Andrew attended Round 2 of the Vic Series in Shepparton.  Andrew had a good practice on Saturday only having one stack and skinning the front of his arm (to match the scar on the back of his arm from a couple of years ago).  Seeding was done on Sunday with Andrew posting a pretty good time which saw him seed #1 in U17's.

Race run done and Andrew's time of 2.14:80 was good enough to win him the U17 division by 4 seconds.  Andrew's time would have placed him 7th in Elite and 4th in U19's.  As much as people complain about the track at Shepparton, it seems to suit Andrew.

Till next time, keep up to date on our facebook page: Crimmins Downhill.

Vic State Round 1 - You Yangs, Geelong 23 Oct 2011

As Ian had completed most of the K9 Agility Course that he was building for the AFP and he had a meeting in Bulla, Victoria, he decided that it would be a good opportunity to take some of the equipment down and also take the boys to the race in Geelong. They set off at 5:30 on Friday morning with their massive load to ensure they would make it to Bulla in time for the meeting. Luckily the courier arrived at 5am with Thomas' helmet and goggles, just in time otherwise he would have to wear his old stuff. The Prado traveled really well considering the load they had on and they made it to Bulla in good time. Meeting done, trailer left behind and off to Geelong to see what sort of accommodation the Manager (Mum) had booked for us this time. Accomm turned out pretty good except the pool had no water in it. Oh well, didn't really have much time to swim anyway. Off to the track Saturday for practice. First run and the boys were taking it easy, just cruising and having a look at the track, when this hero comes flying over a jump and completely takes Thomas out. Thomas ended up down a ditch and the idiot just kept going, didn't even bother to see if Thomas was OK. Nice work mate. Couple of runs later and Andrew's bike fell off the end of the trailer, shit! Turns out it ended up with bent bars and derailler hanger but luckily no scratches on the frame. As the bikes are put on the trailer by the volunteers, You Yangs MTB club were good enough to pay for some new bars and hanger. Not a great start to the weekend but hey, no serious injuries or anything, so all good really. After the thunder and rain on Saturday, the sun was shining as we headed back to the track Sunday for a few hours practice just before qualifying. The weather was warming up as the boys headed up for qualifying so they both decided to take it pretty easy for their runs so they didn't wear out too much for race run. Quali's done and Thomas finished in 9th place and Andrew in 5th so both boys made it through. Andrew headed to the top for race run and gets about halfway down the track when he was red flagged and pulled up because there was a snake on the track. Bugger, not really what you want on a hot day, having to push back to the top again to re-start your race run. He wasn't given much time to recover once back at the top, waiting for just two last riders in U17's and then into the race run again. Anyway, it didn't seem to phase him too much as he still went on to win the race by 0.06sec. He didn't actually realise he had won until presentation time as Ian thought he had come 3rd, so that was a good surprise for him. Thomas' first race back after breaking his collarbone in July was pretty much all about getting his confidence back. He felt comfortable on his new bike and practiced well all weekend, although says he's still feeling like a bit of a gumby. Thomas had a good race run, but felt when he got over the finish line that he didn't feel like he went as hard as he could have (that'll all come back with more time and practice). Anyway, he still ended up finishing in 4th place in U19's and feels pretty happy with where he's at after 12 weeks off the bike. The future's looking bright.

SERAS Mayoral Reception

The boys attended the Cooma Monaro Shire Council Chambers last night to receive their SERAS Scholarship Awards in front of a full Council meeting. Garry gave a speech about the boys achievements during the last year and then they were presented with their Awards from Mayor Lynch.

ACT Interschool Championships

On Friday 2 September Andrew and Thomas headed to Canberra for the ACT Interschool's Cross Country race. Thomas was invited by the Teacher to be team manager for the day as he's still not allowed to ride. Even though Andrew is only in Year 8 at School, he had to race in the College Division as there wasn't enough to make a team in his division. Andrew pulled some pretty good times in his 3 laps and the team ended up 8th overall out of about 80 teams. Pretty good effort really. For the first time, there was a Downhill race on the Saturday. As this was an individual event, Andrew was able to race in the Junior Division (Year 7 & 8). ACT Schools has had gravity races before but not a full on DH race. Andrew was stoked with this new addition to the program. Practice started at 9 and he managed to get in about 5 practice runs before seeding. Andrew ended up seeding first in Division, just ahead of Joel. Andrew had a really good race run, winning his division by over 2 seconds. His time also placed him 2nd overall out of all Divisions.

New Sponsorship Deal

Team Crimmins has taken up a new sponsorship deal with Monza Imports. The boys will be riding Intense bikes with support from Sram and Fox. We will also be continuing our relationship with The Sacred Ride in Jindabyne.

We would like to thank Nicho at Rouler Imports for his fantastic support over the past 3 years.

I have set up a facebook page titled Crimmins Downhill so feel free to like our page also.

Game Over Whistler BC

While warming up for the Jeep Dh Air Thomas overshot one of the big jumps, nose cased and went OTB he landed on his head and his neck brace broke his left collar bone ouch!.
Some how after he found his bike he got back on and rode to the bottom.
From there we we shuttled to the clinic to be treated, great service huge expence and glad we have race travel insurance.
He was pretty devo about missing out on the last two days riding while dads devo about doing all the packing.
Not the best way to end a great trip but he will recover to ride another day, just lucky we are in the off season back home

Garbanzo DH Whistler BC

Thomas raced the Garbanzo DH today, the race is on the longest downhill track in the world a 12kl course with a 3600 feet drop.
Unfortunately he had bike troubles with bottom bracket playing up about 500m in and by mid way not being able to pedal at all. Thomas was fortunate enough that his skill in pumping and holding speed through corners was enough to still post a pretty good time although he had to get off and push in some spots.

At the end of the 36 riders that completed the coarse, Thomas still finished on the podium in a time of 15mins 30 seconds. A great result only 12 seconds off 1st so pretty confident he would have taken top spot if not for mechanical.

Tommorow is his last race the Jeep DH air, a downhill about 3 to 4 mins with around 100 jumps. Huge crowds line the track and Thomas says it is more about styling it up for the crowds than winning. Something about street cred HA!

Canadian Open Whistler BC

Thomas raced the Crankworx Canadian Open DH yesterday in the 16 to 18 age division. There were 46 competitors from around the world in the race.
The rain held off but the conditions were wet. The track was technical and steep with big jumps and was described as world class.
His race run went pretty well with only some minor mistakes.
Thomas was just pipped of the podium by a guy from the USA and finished a very respectable 4th place.

We are very happy with his result. And congratulations to his mate Dave McMillan from Canberra for taking the win. 2 Aussies in top 5.
He is now practicing for the Garbanzo DH, which is a 15min down hill race and is on Tuesday. Thomas says he loves the track so stay tuned for the results!

Whistler

All going well in Whistler, Thomas says the tracks couldn't get any better,although we have had to deal prety cosistant rain and wet tracks, not to mention plenty of work for dad washing and keeping bike running smoothly
Crankworks officialy started yesterday and the crowds are starting to build, bands on every night in main park just outside our unit.
Thomas got 4 hrs to practice Canadian open this morning and will race in the morning (Sunday 17 July). It will be a wet wild and technical track against an unknown line up Go hard!

NSW/ACT State Round 4 - Coffs Harbour 10 July 2011

ANDREW CLAIMS SILVER MEDAL IN U17 STATE SERIES

With Thomas and Dad heading off to Whistler, Mum and Andrew headed off to Coffs for the final round of the 2011 Series. We made the 4.5 hr drive to the Blue Mountains to stay with the Trotters before heading off on Thursday morning for the long trek. 7 hours on the road and we made it to Coffs, did some shopping and set off for the 20min drive to Darlington Beach Holiday park. Must say, good choice Jenny, this was one of the nicest places we have stayed and very well priced too.

Friday and Saturday practice went well and the boys were really liking the track, saying it is so much fun. Ned and Andrew decided to come off in separate stacks and both skinned their lower arms (just to add to the scars for Andrew). Ned then decided to do the same thing again and skin the same arm for a second time. Ouch!

Sunday race day arrived and Andrew had been crook for the last couple of days but we dosed him up on panadol and went on our way. The boys did a couple of runs then Robbie and Ned headed up for qualies. Unfortunately Robbie just missed out and poor old Ned crashed again and also missed out on race run. Then Andrew headed up for his race run. Unfortunately being crook and also having a stack in race run Andrew ended up 7th. He needed to place top 5 to take out the Series but claiming 2nd overall is pretty damned good seeing as he's racing up a category. We have a bit of a break now until the Nationals start but will keep you up to date with Thomas' Whistler adventures. Bye for now.

Whistler 2011

Monday July 11
After a 4am start (usually reserved for fishing trips)Thomas and I headed off to Canberra airport (thanks Pop) to catch our connecting flight to Vancouver. All went well and about 20 sleepless hrs later we arrived at Vancouver airport. Very glad to stretch our legs and feed Thomas, I don't think Canadian airlines realises how much a 16 year old lad eats. We got grilled by customs I am sure they thought I was abducting my son never to return Ha.

On to the bus and a bit of a tour around Vancouver city picking up at hotels then it was a very scenic two and a half hour drive into the mountains to Whistler Village.
Impressed by our accommodation(Thanks Mum)Thomas put his bike together and hit up a few runs. Back home then out to dinner to hook up with 4 of his Aussie mates. Big day! go the jetlag.
Tuesday:
Turns out with lifts staying open till eight at night and isn't dark till nine thirty nobody surfaces till around 11 am. Thomas put in a solid day riding with mates and alone. He is super impressed with what he rode of the 40 or more tracks on offer and his favorite so far being the 15min Garbanzo run.
More soon Ian

NSW/ACT State Round 3 - Mt Stromlo 12 June 2011

Finally a race close to home so not much traveling and no accommodation costs. As Thomas was at the AIS Camp with the Junior Worlds long team, he would be traveling to and from the event with the team so it was just Mum, Dad & Andrew for this one.

We arrived at the track nice and early Saturday morning so Andrew could get in a few practice runs. As he hadn't ridden any bike for the last three weeks because of his broken finger, he thought he needed the practice. Unfortunately the weather was really windy and that only means one thing, the jumps get really dangerous so most people were preserving life and not doing all the big jumps.

Sunday was much the same with strong winds and pretty cold temperatures. Thomas got a few good tips from Nathan Rennie who, along with Jared Rando, were coaching the Junior Team, about riding Stromlo when it is really windy.

As Thomas was on the AIS Camp, he was told all the team would have to race in Elite Division for this round which he was happy to do to see how he would go. This is because when the team goes to the Champs they would be racing against the Elite riders, so they might as well get used to it here.

Anyway, both boys did a couple of practice runs before Thomas headed up to the start for qualifying. Out of the 33 riders registered in Elite, they would only be taking 17 riders through to the final so Thomas knew he had to put in a good run. He managed to do that and ended up qualifying 7th.

Next it was Andrew's turn to head up for race run. With nearly 40 riders in U17's and Andrew racing up a division, he knew he would have his work cut out. But as it turned out, Andrew pulled off the win by over 8 seconds in a time of 2:27.77. We were all stoked on that, especially as it was such a fast time.

After a few running repairs on Thomas' bike, he headed back to the top for race run. He had a pretty good run and managed to finish in 10th place in Elite in a time of 2:25.50. Gotta be stoked on that as he should be racing U17's!!

All in all was a great weekend with great results. Andrew is now leading the U17's Series going into the last round in Coffs next month. Thomas learnt a lot from 5 days in Camp. He will miss the next round as he's heading over to Crankworx in Canada for 2 weeks. (Don't think he's overly devastated though :)

CORC Round 2 - 22 May 2011

Another successful Clubbie for Thomas at Round 2 of the 2011/12 CORC Series, placing 2nd in Elite's. Just 2.09 seconds behind Jezza.

Another very busy weekend with the Stromlo working bee on Saturday morning, then runs in the afternoon with the gates open (thanks to Mum for doing shuttles). Sunday saw Thomas & Dad head to Majura for the race and Mum & Andrew head to Bungendore for footy. Unfortunately the footy team got beat but Andrew did score one of our two tries.

I think we have a couple of weekends off now, apart from Sunday footy, before the State Round at Stromlo on 11 & 12 June. The boys can't wait. Should be a big weekend.
** Thanks to "Going Downhill" for the photo.

NSW/ACT State Round 2 - Ourimbah 14 May 2011

The Team all headed to Ourimbah for the weekend, keen to escape the cold weather. We headed out at 8:30am on Friday morning on our way to pick up Kaine from the Wollongong turn off. After a quick stop at Goulburn, an hour later we arrived to Kaine's pick up spot. Loaded up and on the road again. 2 hours later we arrive at the Ourimbah track where we dropped the boys at the top to walk the track before kitting up to do a few practice runs.

Early start on Saturday morning as Mum had offered to Marshall so we were at the track just before 9 and Mum headed to the top to Marshall at the start. Boys kitted up and went to stand in line to catch the shuttle up. Lucky for Andrew he must have got in line early as he was the 2nd rider to do a run. The shuttles went to shit after that with people waiting anywhere up to 1.5 hrs in line. Some pretty unhappy downhillers on track! Practice over and we headed back to the digs to build a wheel and relax for a bit before cooking the BBQ for dinner. Danny joined us for the BBQ with Ned and his Mum coming over for a while also.

Packed up the Cabin and back to the track early again Sunday so we could get a good parking spot, and managed to snag the same spot we had on Saturday. The boys did their usual practice runs and then prepped for race. Well Andrew for race and Thomas for qualifying.

As the track was so pedally, Thomas did a pretty cruisy qualifying run to save his energy for race and ended up qualifying in 2nd position so he was pretty happy with that.

Andrew had a good race run and finished in 2nd position in Under 17's so he was really happy. Andrew is glad that he decided to race up a division this year and is happy with his results so far.

With Mum up the hill Marshalling again, it was finally time for Thomas' race run. Watching all the U19's come down with Thomas being the 2nd last rider is always nerve racking but finally we see him coming through the scrub and into the final berm and then jumps, which he totally pinned. Watching the time tick over, we weren't sure what the result was as the times were so close but after Castec printed out the results, Thomas had come in 2nd behind David McMillan by 0.57 of a second. It turned out Thomas had a stack in race run so was pretty happy to still end up in 2nd place. The results for the top 5 U19's were all within 1.28 seconds. Very close and exciting racing. Congrats to David for taking the win, you deserve it.

Got back home just before 10pm and the boys are already planning for the next race. Go Team!!!

CORC Round 1 8 May 2011 (Mothers Day) - Kowen

Round 1 of the 2011/12 CORC Series was held at Kowen Forrest on Mothers Day. With Andrew back into the football, we had to split ourselves between the two events. Ian taking Thomas to David's and then come back to Kambah to watch Andrew play footy, then back out to Kowen to watch Thomas race and help with the timing.

Thomas was looking forward to this race as he hasn't race a Clubbie for a while as they've clashed with other races. He was also feeling that he had got back his confidence again after Adelaide so was keen to see how he'd go.

After his first run, Thomas was sitting on 3rd fastest time of the day so was pretty pleased with that and looking to improve a bit on his second run. When all was done and dusted, Thomas had improved on his first run by nearly 1.5 seconds to claim third fastest time of the day overall out of 68 riders, just behind Timmy and Jezza. Also pretty pleased with beating 2 of the junior worlds boys.

Vic State Round 5 - Yackandandah 17 April 2011

Team Crimmins had a pretty successful trip to Yack for Round 5 of the Vic Series. Mum took the boys as Dad had a fishing trip on with some mates down the coast (mind you he came home without any fish:) but hey, I'm sure he had fun).

We arrived at the track on Friday arvo and did a walk of the track. The boys decided it looked much better in real life than it did on the headcam on facebook. We set up the Morewood tent in prime position then headed out to find our accommodation in Beechworth.

As we had already walked the track on Friday, we had a bit of a sleep in on Saturday morning as practice didn't start until 10am. Easy 1/2 hour drive back to the track and practice was underway. Boys ended up getting a good day of practice in even though there was a big interruption when a young kid axed himself on one of the rock drops. Mum decided to help out with some marshaling on the track. Might as well be sitting on the track as sitting in the tent.

Sunday was an early start with practice at 8am. We arrived at the track on time and the boys got straight into some practice runs doing the usual few but conserving enough energy for qualifying and race. Quali came round and Andrew ended up qualifying 1st in U17's even though he got stuck behind a slower rider for the last part of the track. Thomas qualied 2nd in U19's so both boys pretty happy with that.

Andrew started his race run and on the very first corner snapped his gear cable, stuck in top gear. Knowing there were a couple of real pedally bits on the track, he knew he couldn't lose any momentum coming into the pedals so was on the gas the whole time. This may have helped him to take out the U17's by 14 seconds. Wow, what a margin.

Thomas hit a tree in race run but still ended up 2nd in U19's by less than 2 seconds. And only 1 second ahead of his brother. Look out Thomas!!! Thanks to the race organisers, we love attending Vic races and will continue to do so whenever we can. Your races Rock!!!

Vic State Champs - Mt Beauty 3 April 2011

Andrew decided to attend the Vic State Champs this weekend instead of the NSW State Champs which was held on the same weekend. With Thomas' cast due to come off last Wednesday, we weren't sure if he would be racing so the decision was all Andrew's. The biggest clincher for the Vic Champs was that they qualify their U17's so Andrew would get 2 runs, plus he had never ridden Mt Beauty before (and entry was cheaper, yay). It was pretty much the same distance from here to Beauty as it was to NSW Champs at Awaba also.

As Thomas decided to cut his plaster off last Friday (5 days early), he decided that he would be right to ride so the boys headed off on Friday afternoon to make the 5 hr trek to Mt Beauty. We had only booked a room with 2 beds so Thomas would have to sleep in the swag as he was a late inclusion. Oh well, he was just happy to be able to ride again.

Saturday morning was the usual track walk before heading up for practice runs. After a couple of runs, Thomas' arm was feeling really good, although the thumb was cramping up a bit but that's probably just due to not using it for a while. Practice went well and the boys were loving the long track. With both boys racing above their age division, there sure seemed to be quite a bit of competition out there but that's what they relish.

Sunday morning practice also went well. Andrew headed up for his qualifying run and came down into 3rd place which he was pretty happy with. Next was Thomas' turn but it ended up that the timing messed up during Thomas' run so he had to do another one. Not the ideal preparation but these things happen. After Thomas' fairly cruisy 2nd qualifying run, he ended up 6th fastest so still pretty happy with that.

Race runs were delayed a bit due to the timing messing up but eventually got it over with and the end result was: Thomas 2nd in U19's and Andrew 2nd in U17's. Great effort again as both boys are racing above their age category. Also especially as this was Thomas' first race back after injury. Well done again boys.

National Series Round 4 - Shepparton, Vic 20 March 2011

The fourth and final round of the 2010/11 National Series was held in Shepparton on the weekend of 18-20 March 2011. With Thomas still out because of his broken arm, Dad and Andrew headed to Shepp on the Thursday afternoon, driving to Albury to stay overnight and then to Shepp on the Friday morning. Thomas ended up going to Sydney to see his girlfriend for the weekend so he wasn't overly distraught.

Dad and Andrew arrived at the track Friday morning, set up the tent and headed up the track to check it out and get in some practice. There were a few changes to the track from the one we used last year with lots of jumps put in, which Andrew looooves! Andrew was happy with his first day of practice, enjoying the track a lot more than last year.

Saturday was an early start with practice starting at 8am. Another good morning of practice and then Andrew headed to the pool with Brent while Dad went back to the motel to do some washing and bike maintenance before heading back to the track to watch Group A seeding. That over with, back to the motel, dinner and an early night in prep for race day tomorrow. Dad reckons Andrew was looking really fast in practice and nailing all of the jumps, which a lot of other riders couldn't master.

Sunday saw another early start with practice from 8am and racing starting at 10:30. As there was a pretty small field in Group B, racing was over with pretty quickly. Mum rang Dad at 11am "What's Andrews start time?" Dad: "They've just finished". As I had the internet open on the laptop, I went to the online results site and there it was in black and white, Andrew had smoked it woohoo, winning by another huge margin of over 12 seconds. It ended up that Andrew time of 2:20.10 would have seen him place 2nd in U17's and 8th in U19's. Bloody amazing effort mate. Thomas had want to hurry up and make a come back or Andrew might just beat him lol (I won't be coming home that day).

With the Series now over, Andrew made a clean sweep by winning all 4 rounds so has now earned the title "2010/11 U15 National Series Champion". Even though Thomas only raced 3 out of 4 rounds, having won all 3, he still had enough points to place 2nd overall in the Series in the U17's division, which is a fantastic effort. Till next time. Go Team!!!

NSW/ACT State Round 1 - Thredbo 12 March 2011

Even before the National Series has finished, we are already into the State Series! Great. Anyway, the first round was held at Thredbo on the weekend of 12 & 13 March. As Thomas is still incapacitated, Andrew was the sole Team member racing this weekend, however Thomas did accompany us on the trip (but I'm sure after the first day he wished he hadn't as watching everyone else ride their bikes was killing him).

As Dad was on his way home from working in Murwillumbah, Mum and the boys headed to Thredbo on Saturday morning, set up the tent, settled into the lodge and Andrew had a good day of practice. Andrew decided to race in the Under 17 division for State this year as he said "I've accomplished everything I want to in the Under 15's". He has been U15 State Series winner and also U15 State Champ and at 13 years old feels he's been in the U15's for long enough. Racing up in the 17's isn't about winning for him, it's about having more competition, which in turn helps improve his racing.

Yet again on race day we awake to rain coming down on the lodge roof. What would race day be without rain and mud? Bloody fantastic I say. Anyway, the rain cleared but it left the track really slippery but at least not too muddy. Dad arrived mid morning so Mum headed up to Marshall on the track for race.

Race arrived and Andrew headed to the start but as usual, race never starts on time so he had a bit of a wait at the top. As he was waiting, the weather closed in and just before he was due to race, the wind and rain started. Mum was half way up the mountain thinking, "no, please don't start the U7's now" and it was probably a good thing they were running late so by the time they started, the rain had pretty much cleared.

Andrew was the first rider to come through in the U17's with Porky hot on his tail. He made it safely to the finish in a time of 6.58:59. With 36 riders in the U17's it seemed to take forever to get through them but finally they all finished and Andrew had placed 2nd. We were stoked with his podium finish and are now looking forward to the State Champs (NSW or Vic, not sure yet). Till next time, catch ya!!!

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - Adelaide 26 Feb 2011

For the second year in a row, the Aus National Champs were held at Eagle Mountain bike park not far from Adelaide City. Mum & Dad drove over and arrived by lunch time on Monday, settled in then picked the boys up from the airport Monday evening.

Practice started on Tuesday with open practice all day, same on Wednesday. The weather was pretty good early in the week with tops of around 26 degrees but it certainly warmed up by Thursday afternoon reaching 33/34 degrees. Both boys got in some really good practice on Tuesday and Wednesday with split practice starting on Thursday. This meant we didn't have to spend the whole day at the track so we headed to the 'beach' for a bit of a swim.

Friday morning back to the track for a few hours practice before we would head home for a few hours before the boys went back to the track to watch Group A Seeding runs. All was going well until the bus stopped on the way back to the top and Porky told me to meet Thomas in the parking bowl as he'd hurt his wrist. Oh no!

I got to the bowl with Rick, Porky's Dad, Thomas was getting off the bus. We headed straight to the St John's guys for a (sort of) diagnosis. Seems he may have broken something so off to the hospital for an x-ray. Couple of hours later and the diagnosis was a fractured radius. Doc put on a half cast and we headed back to the track to pick up Dad & Andrew. Thomas was still convinced he would be racing tomorrow. We would have to wait and see.

Saturday morning came round and Ian took off Thomas cast as he wanted to see how bad it was. One lap around the caravan park and there was no way Thomas would be racing today. Cast and strapping back on and off to the track. Absolutely Devo!!!

By Saturday Andrew had the track so dialed that he didn't need much practice so he did the usual 2 runs before having a bit of a rest. Andrew's race start time was around 11:15am so he headed to the top to get ready. For some reason Andrew was ranked number 1 in Under 15's so he was the first off in his category. Usually they go off last years Champs rankings (which was 3rd for Andrew) but for some reason this year they went off the Series rankings.

Anyway, Mum and Dad headed to the bottom part of the track (not far from where he crashed last year) to see Andrew cross the finish line and make sure he got down safe. We could see him coming through the trees and with crossed fingers we were hoping he would have a clean run to the finish. And so he did, finishing in a time of 2:16.36 which was a really good time comparing it to Group A Seeding runs on Friday afternoon. Watching Joel, the second U15 rider come through the trees, and watching the time, we knew it was going to be close and that it was. After Joel crossed the line Mum saw that they were both on the same minute and second. Oh no, it was down to the hundredth of a second. The timing screen went blank for what seemed like minutes (it was probably only seconds) but when it came back up, it had a number 2 next to Joel's name which meant that Andrew was still in the lead. After what happened last year, I can't believe Andrew put us through that stress.

All Under 15 riders over the line and Andrew had won by 0.5 of a second from Joel. This is the closest Joel has ever been to Andrew's time. What a relief. Andrew was officially 2011 Under 15 National Champion. Yay and big Congrats mate.

Andrew ended up telling us that he held back quite a bit in his race run as he didn't want to crash again but now realises that he nearly held back a bit too much and nearly lost it. All comes with experience really.

Roll on the Final round of the Series in Shepparton in a couple of weeks. Will be touch and go if Thomas can race, however if he can't race, there's a fair chance he won't win the Series so positive thoughts everyone. In the mean time Andrew will be racing the first round of the State Series in Thredbo.

National Series Round 3 - Mt Buller, Vic 6 Feb 2011

What would a National Round be without a bit of rain? Well, Buller really put it on for us this weekend. Not only did it rain, but blew gale force winds and even threw in a bit of snow for good measure - in the middle of Summer- what the? We managed a top of 5 degrees on Sunday for race.

Anyway, after driving through 38 degree heat on Thursday, we arrived at the Lodge and settled into our room. Thanks to Jeff Hughes for organising all the Canberra crew to stay in the Aeski Lodge, we had a great time. Lucky the Lodge was quite big, most of the time you wouldn't have known there were 42 of us staying there.

Thursday night saw a change in the weather with the rain and wind starting. Friday morning we headed to the top of the track to see what the go was. Low cloud meant you could barely see 2 metres in front of you and it was cold. Word at the top was to get in as many practice runs as you could today as the weather was expected to get worse for Saturday and the lifts could be closed. The boys managed to get a few runs in on the increasingly wet and slippery track.

Saturday morning the weather was even worse so with the lifts closed there was to be no practice on Saturday. With 42 of us in the Lodge, we managed to fill in most of the day but cabin fever started setting in by mid afternoon so some of us Mum's decided to walk to town in the rain. The boys who were too young or decided not to go to the pub thought it would be a good idea to take "Fluff's" toboggan's and go do some runs down the grass slopes. As a parent it's best not to know what they're up to sometimes. All good and no-one got hurt (at least badly enough for us to find out anyway).

With no practice on Saturday, Sunday's schedule was amended. For a change, Group A had the early practice start at 8am. Woo hoo, we got an extra 1/2 hr in bed (except Ian who went and set up the CORC tent so we could have a bit of shelter and storage space). Not much encouragement to get to the track with minus God know what temperature but we made it by start of practice so the boys could get in a couple of practice runs before race. With a few showers of rain the track was still quite wet and very slippery in parts.

Andrew was first of the boys to head to the start for his race run. Having done a total of 6 practice runs over the weekend (and nursing 9 stitches in his arm from a stack at Thredbo the previous Monday) he wasn't overly confident but thought if he could at least get to the bottom with a clean run, he might pull off a good result. With Mum and Dad watching the timer inside the Cafe, Andrew's time stopped on 4.02:21 which we knew from the previous seeding times that this was a good time. After all 9 riders in U15's crossed the line, Andrew had the win by just over 9 seconds. Andrew said after race that he didn't have a really good run, just trying to keep upright, but obviously a better run than anyone else. Well done Andrew, 3 from 3 so far.

Thomas' race time arrived so off he went to the start line. Thomas knew that this would be a tough race against close rival Dean Lucas as this is one of Dean's local tracks. Dean has come 2nd to Thomas at the first 2 rounds and we knew he would put it to Thomas for this round. Ahh well, with the track in the condition it was in after the rain and all, we knew that would open it up as Thomas loves the wet and rides really well in these conditions.

Thomas' time stopped on 3.42:15 which again we knew was a really good time from this mornings seeding runs. Next we saw Dean's time stop on 3.47:08. Thomas had Dean by nearly 5 seconds. We just then had to wait till the rest of the 26 riders finished as you never know who might come out of the woodworks. Anyway, all riders finished and Yes, Thomas has got the win. Sooooo stoked for him. His time would have seen him 4th in U19 and 6th in Elite. Not bad for a 15 year old.

Great result overall again. Next we are off to the Champs at the end of this month.
Catch Ya.

PS: Ya know what! One day I'm going on a holiday where I can sleep in and just do whatever I feel like for a whole week. Until then, we'll continue to do what we do :) but we love it.

National Series Round 2 - Mt Baw Baw, Vic 16 Jan 2011

Round 2 of the National Series was held at some small dodgy ski resort in Victoria, 2.5 hrs from Melbourne. After 9 hrs on the road (with stops and stocking up on groceries) we arrived to be told we couldn't enter the ski resort, we would have to lug all our gear from the car park. Not likely. There was no way we were going to make fifteen trips in the rain. Turns out it was pretty easy to move the bollard and drive right through, empty the gear and drive back out again, no harm done.

The weather on Thursday night was horrendous. The wind was howling and the rain was coming in sideways. Turns out it was just the same on Friday morning so practice was postponed until they did a re-assessment at 12:30. The boys ended up getting on the track at 1pm. It continued to rain all afternoon but the wind eased up a bit. The track ended up looking like a river but the boys loved it. After being stuck in the lodge all morning, Mum and Dad decided to walk the track even though it was raining. Trying to stay upright was an effort it was so slippery. The boys managed to get in some good (although wet and muddy) practice. Spent the evening drying off shoes, helmets and goggles in front of the fire (yes, we lit the slow combustion fire in the lodge in the middle of Summer).

Saturday was open practice from 8am till 1pm. The weather had fined up a lot although the track was still very wet. The boys got in some good practice runs and then we watched the U19's seeding runs. Bikes all clean and time to relax for the evening.

We woke Sunday morning to another fine day. The boys had practice from 8am till 10am so they only did a couple of practice runs to see what condition the track was in. Still a bit wet with a few puddles hanging around. The boys had start time of 10:47am for andrew and 10:53am for Thomas so they had a bit of a re-group and then headed to the start line. Mum and Dad decided to watch the race from the technical 'Jeep Track' section which is where most people seemed to be watching from. We couldn't hear any commentary from there but we'd find out the results later. Andrew came through looking very fast and smooth and made it through there safe. The rest of the U15's through and then it was Thomas' turn. Thomas also got safely through the Jeep Track section looking very fast and smooth. Once both boys were through safe, Mum headed up to see if she could find out some results. Next thing, over the speaker, "Andrew Crimmins has taken the win in the U15's". Yay, he's down safe and also took the win by a massive 11.31 seconds.

Thomas was currently sitting in the hot seat waiting for the rest of the U17's to come over the line. Finally all riders over the line and over the loud speaker was that Thomas had also taken the win by nearly 4 seconds again. Pretty consistent time gaps for the first 2 rounds between 1st, 2nd & 3rd.

Overall, another successful National trip and now looking forward to Mt Buller in early Feb.