Friday, July 27, 2012

Long awaited update

Hello all,

I didn't realise it has been so long since updating the blog....  My apologies about that but I've been keeping the Crimmins Downhill facebook page up to date.  It's much easier but I thought I would also do a bit of an update on here.

Well, a lot has happened since the Champs in February.  Andrew took out the 2011/12 National Series in his first year in Under 17's and Thomas ended up 3rd overall in the Under 19's category.  Both boys are stoked on their placement over the National Season.

Andrew also attended all the 2011/12 Vic State Rounds placing 1st in 4 rounds and 2nd in one round.  This gave him enough points to take the overall Series win in the Under 17's category.

Both boys attended the CORC ACT Mtb Championships in April 2012.  This consisted of racing 4 disciplines including Dual Slalom, Gravity XC, XC and Downhill.  Andrew raced in all 4 disciplines and ended up with enough points to take out the overall win for the Junior Division.  Thomas had just completed a 4 day Junior Worlds Training Camp with the rest of the Junior long team and had a big few days so he decided to just focus on the Downhill.  This payed off for Thomas as he ended up placing 1st in Elite Men ahead of Timmy Eaton and Joe Vejvoda.

After attending the Junior Camp in Canberra in April, Thomas was eventually informed that he had been selected onto the final Junior Worlds Team that would be representing Australia at the Champs in Leogang, Austria in September.  We were all stoked on the news and also very proud of Thomas.  On 16th June, Thomas left with the Team to race World Cup Rounds in Mont St Anne, Canada and Wyndham, New York.  He gained a huge amount of experience from the trip and ended up placing 92nd and 96th respectively.  He also turned 17 whilst he was OS.

During the winter months, Andrew has been playing Rugby League so he hasn't been racing any CORC Clubbies and it seems that Thomas has been unavailable for a lot of them also.  Hopefully this will change once the summer months approach.

On the weekend of 23/24 June, the remainder of the team headed to Del Rio for the first of the NSW/ACT State Round.  Andrew decided to test himself and race in U19's and hopefully also gain himself some cash prizes.  Heading to the top for seeding, Andrew was hoping for a top 5 finish.  He ended up seeding first so he was stoked with that and realised he may even be able to finish in the top 3 after race.  Andrew ended up placing 2nd in race so he was really happy with his effort for the weekend.

Last weekend the whole team attended Round 2 of the State Series in Coffs Harbour.  Driving all day Friday, practice Saturday (including driving shuttles, towing a trailer in the Prado all day), race Sunday and drive home all day Monday.  Phew, what a trip.  The weather wasn't the best, cool and windy on Saturday, cool and rainy on Sunday.  Rain set in just before seeding on Sunday morning making the track extremely slippery.  Andrew stayed upright and seeded in 2nd place in U19's.  Thomas had an off and seeded 6th in Elite.  More rain before race saw the times a fair bit slower than seeding but Andrew was ever consistent and place 2nd in race.  Thomas had a bit of a mis-hap at the top of the track but still managed to finish in 9th place in Elite Men.

I will try to make more of an effort to keep this site updated from now on.

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