Saturday, January 28, 2012

National Round 2 - Mt Buller, Vic 20-22 Jan 2012



As we attended the Vic State Round in Mt Buller, we decided rather than go home for two days that we would stay for the week between races.  Although we thought we might get a bit bored we managed to fill in the time pretty easily.  Some of us had a nice relaxing time whilst others did not stop (Andrew & Angus) making the most of all the riding available.  We had a pretty full house for the week with people coming and going but it all worked really well and everyone had a good time.

Thomas and David were told by Jared Rando not to ride the race track during the week so he and David did a bit of XC and rode some of the other Gravity trails.  Andrew and Angus just smashed runs out all week on anything they felt like, they were in bike heaven.

Friday was Open practice all day for the Gravity Cup so the boys got into it early, punching out runs all day with no major issues which is always a good thing.

Saturday was Open practice in the morning and then Group B seeding runs from 1.30pm.  Andrew's seeding run went really well and he crossed in an amazing 3:25.46, 11 seconds ahead of 2nd place in a field of 21 riders.  He sure did have all the Group A boys in a bit of a sweat "can't let a 14 year old beat us".  Thomas' seeding run went well also, finishing in 4th place with a bit left in the tank. 

Sunday morning was Group B Practice and race.  We arrived at the top of the track and you wouldn't have even known there was a race on, no music, not commentary, no atmosphere. Anyway, Andrew did two practice runs and sat and waited for this race time.  Finally after what seemed like forever, his race time arrived.  As he seeded first, he was the last one to go in reverse order.  Watching the timing on the clock we knew if he did a similar time to yesterday he would have it.  As it turns out, unbelievably, he did a faster time than seeding finishing in a 3.24:25 to put 6.50 seconds on 2nd place.  Amazing!!!  This time would have seen him finish 2nd in U19 and 7th in Elite men :0

The afternoon saw Group A practice and race.  I have to say, I much preferred it when both boys were in Group B and we could stress in the morning and then relax for the afternoon.  Thomas did his usual couple of practice runs, last one just before cut off so he could see how the track had changed.  Bit of food, relax and it was race time.  After a bit of a warm up waiting for the rest of the 54 riders to start, it was Thomas' turn.  As the timing went out on the screen, we didn't really know where it was up to so they finally put on some commentary.  It turned out that when Thomas crossed the finish line in 3.24:59, he went into the hot seat which he said surprised him a bit as there were some fast riders before him.  He managed to sit in the hot seat until the very last rider, Connor Fearon who pipped him by 3.91 secs.  Thomas was still stoked with his podium finish and to also gain enough points to receive the "Series Leader" plate in his very first year of Under 19's.

I have to say there was some bantering going on in the Crimmins household (and still is).  If you have a good look at both boys final times you'll understand why.  We all knew it would happen one day, just not yet.

Will check in after Stromlo National Round in 2 weeks.  In the meantime, check our facebook page, Crimmins Downhill.  Catchya!

Vic State Round 4 - Mt Buller 15 Jan 2012



The team attended the Fourth Round of the Vic State Series in Mt Buller on the weekend of 14 & 15 January 2012.  Both boys decided to race this round as we were all going to be there and Thomas decided he needed to try and replenish his bank balance hopefully with some cash in U19's.

Thomas traveled down with David McMillan while the rest of the team went together.  Thomas and David arrived first and found our little lodge and luckily turned the heaters on for us as the place was freezing.  We settled into the lodge and the boys did some runs on Friday to see what the track was like.  Not overly impressed with the race track but were happy to also be able to do a variety of runs on different tracks. 

Saturday was a solid day of practice.  Sunday morning was qualifying runs for both boys.  Andrew wanted to gain maximum points so he went all out in qualies and finished first by 14 seconds.  Thomas held back a bit and qualied in fifth place.

Afternoon race came around and the boys were pumped to go well.  Final results were Andrew 1st U17's by 10 seconds in a time of 03:32,425 and Thomas coming in 2nd place U19's in a 03:31,347 (only one second between the boys).  Another great Vic event over with and now looking forward to the last round.