Thomas Crimmins Fastest time of the Day. Yewwwww!!!
Went to Majura on Mothers Day for Round 2 of the 2009/10 CORC Series. What else would Mum do on Mothers Day? Anyway, all ready for a Super D mass start but as it turns out, the track was only single track with no space for overtaking, so riders started one by one. They did have to run through the start gate, collect their bike, run to the top and start riding. Much to most of their disgust as I don't think downhillers like running much.
After 2 runs each, Thomas finished 1st in the U17's but also took out the fastest time of the day out of about 70 riders. Andrew was going to enter U15's but for some reason was put into U13's, anyway it was probably a good thing as the track wasn't really suited to his new hardtail (wouldn't have been for his dually either). Andrew finished 1st in the U13s so was pretty happy with that. Oh, that's right, after we got home from Ourimbah, we drove to Jindy to pick up Andrew's new STP 0 from Sacred Ride so that's what he rode on Sunday. Great day was had by all.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
2nd State Round - Ourimbah 3 May 09
The 2nd round of the State Series was held at Ourimbah, near Gosford on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of May. As Dad is in PNG working, Mum took on the job of getting the boys there and back in one piece. We all know Mum is up to the challenge and as usual, everything went without a hitch. She didn't even get lost (oh well, maybe once but that wasn't too bad).
On the road by 9am thursday and after one minor detour on our way, to pick up Thomas' mate Kaine Trevor from the Picton turnoff, we arrived at our accommodation with enough time to spare before dark to find out where the track was and walk it. Mum dropped the boys at the top of the track and met them at the bottom. Boys decided the track looked really good except for some really pedally and flat bits.
Friday morning and the boys decided they wanted to get to the track early for some practice. Mum would have to do shuttles. Arrived at track at 9am and no-one else there which was good as we had the trailer on and made it easier to turn around. Having a bit of a spell at around 11am and people started turning up. Did a few more runs and decided to call it a day. Dropped boys at cabin and went to get food for dinner and the next day. Turns out the boys got tuned up (just for something new) for washing their bikes with the fire hose!!! There seems to be too many old people in these caravan parks!
Saturday arrived and at the track early again but today there were shuttles so Mum could finally have a look at the track. Caught the bus to the top and walked down the track, trying to get the elusive photo's. Practice day went well and all geared up for race day tomorrow.
Sunday, race day, again at the track early. Line up for shuttles and off they go for a few practice runs. Mum and Helen (Christie Batt's Mum)decided to walk the track and watch a bit of practice. Lunch break and met the boys back in the village for a bit to eat and a bit of a spell before heading to the top to get ready for race. Race time arrived and surprisingly Mum was feeling pretty good at this stage, not too nervous. Well that was until one of the elite riders came down to the big double just before the finish line and ate it really hard. Mum felt instantly sick in the stomach (thanks Tom) with both the boys yet to race. Thomas came down the hill first in the U17 Div, as he was leading the Series after Thredbo, followed by the 2nd rider. In all there was 52 riders in the U17 Div and it seemed to take for ever to get to the end of them. Finally, they finished and ends up Thomas came 2nd, beaten by the kid who came 2nd at Thredbo. We knew he would give Thomas a run for his money as Ourimbah is his home track. But that's why Thomas is racing 17's for a bit more competition.
What seemed like an eternity, finally the U15's were on track. Andrew came down 2nd as that was his ranking after Thredbo. After the 20 riders in U15's finished, it turned out Andrew came 7th overall, again another great result.
EDIT: Turns out the kid who came 1st at Thredbo and 2nd at Ourimbah should have been racing U17's so as it stands now, Andrew actually won Round 1 and came 6th in Round 2. This now puts him in 2nd position overall at this stage. Yeah Andrew.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
1st State Round - Thredbo 5 April 2009
Been a bit slack lately with updating the blog but better late than never I suppose.
The first of the NSW State Rounds was held a Thredbo on the weekend of the 4th & 5th of April 2009. Ian took the boys up on Friday for a bit of practice. After lunch it rained and the track got really muddy which the boys loved! Not so much Mum once they got home and needed all their muddy clothes washed. Ended up getting a lift back up with the Maggs' on their way through from Sydney on the Friday evening, getting back up to Thredbo about 11pm.
Practice on Saturday morning while Mum and Dad leisurely made their way to Thredbo for the weekend.
Thomas decided he would race the U17's division to give himself a bit more competition. Andrew would be racing U15's as that's the youngest division in the State Series. A very cold Sunday morning came around and we got the start lists. There were 52 riders in U17's and 30 in U15's. The boys sure would have their work cut out for them. A few practice runs on Sunday then head up for race run. It was freezing waiting at the top or the mountain and as always they were running late so start times were delayed.
Andrew was seeded 2nd in the U15's so he was the second rider in that division to come down the mountain. He came down in a very respectable time of 7:00.84 which put him in the lead for quite a while, eventually being knocked into 2nd place by an unbelievable point 4 of a second. Can't get much closer than that. Very proud of Andrew's result as he is still only 11 and he was very happy with his podium result.
Seemed like forever before Thomas came down as he was rider number 35 out of the 52 riders in U17's. He came flying out of the trees and crossed the finish in a time of 6:30.27, taking the win by point 3 of a second from the kid who had been in the hot seat for quite a while. Thomas' time would have seen him win the U19's and place in the top 10 in Elites. Pretty impressive.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
2009 Oceania Support Race - March 22
As Thomas was too young to enter the Oceania U19's, both the boys decided they would like to enter the Oceania's support race. U17's was the youngest division in the support races but as long as they're racing, the don't really care what division it is. With Thomas moving up to the U17's for the State Series this year, he thought it would be good practice.
Dad and the boys headed to Thredbo on Friday for practice (not like they haven't been there enough this year already!). Arriving in Thredbo the boys found out the U17 National Champ, Connor Fearon, was there also racing the U17 support race along with 2nd place U17 National Champ, David McMillan. Oh well, Thomas was looking forward to seeing how he would go against the boys.
Practice all day Saturday and both the boys had the track pretty well dialed. Just looking forward to race on Sunday. It was pretty good to be able to watch some of the elites and U19's practice also.
Race day Sunday arrived and both the boys were pretty relaxed until Andrew's main pivot bolt snapped on his last practice run, just before having to head to the top for race run!! Oh crap! Andrew headed down to the workshop to get a new one, which was fitted and then had to be cut off as well. The whole time, the dude on the microphone was saying all U17 riders should be on their way to the top. I think Mum was stressing more than anyone though. If something is going to happen, guaranteed it will happen just before race run. Anyway, bike sorted and Andrew was on his way to the top on the chairlift.
Race time came around and first down was Connor in a very fast time, next was David with a time not quite as quick as Connor, then came Thomas out of the trees. Watching his time on the board, we knew it was going to be a really fast time. Three more riders and then Andrew came flying out of the trees, also pinning it. Final result: 1st Connor 6:25.50, 2nd Thomas 6:29.82, 3rd David 6:38.07, 6th Andrew 7:15.81. Thomas was pretty happy to be only 4 seconds behind the U17 National Champ. Look out Connor. Andrew was also very happy with his time and placing 6th out of 11 riders in U17 division!
Dad and the boys headed to Thredbo on Friday for practice (not like they haven't been there enough this year already!). Arriving in Thredbo the boys found out the U17 National Champ, Connor Fearon, was there also racing the U17 support race along with 2nd place U17 National Champ, David McMillan. Oh well, Thomas was looking forward to seeing how he would go against the boys.
Practice all day Saturday and both the boys had the track pretty well dialed. Just looking forward to race on Sunday. It was pretty good to be able to watch some of the elites and U19's practice also.
Race day Sunday arrived and both the boys were pretty relaxed until Andrew's main pivot bolt snapped on his last practice run, just before having to head to the top for race run!! Oh crap! Andrew headed down to the workshop to get a new one, which was fitted and then had to be cut off as well. The whole time, the dude on the microphone was saying all U17 riders should be on their way to the top. I think Mum was stressing more than anyone though. If something is going to happen, guaranteed it will happen just before race run. Anyway, bike sorted and Andrew was on his way to the top on the chairlift.
Race time came around and first down was Connor in a very fast time, next was David with a time not quite as quick as Connor, then came Thomas out of the trees. Watching his time on the board, we knew it was going to be a really fast time. Three more riders and then Andrew came flying out of the trees, also pinning it. Final result: 1st Connor 6:25.50, 2nd Thomas 6:29.82, 3rd David 6:38.07, 6th Andrew 7:15.81. Thomas was pretty happy to be only 4 seconds behind the U17 National Champ. Look out Connor. Andrew was also very happy with his time and placing 6th out of 11 riders in U17 division!
Friday, March 20, 2009
CORC Round Isaacs - 15 March 2009
The final round of the 2008/09 CORC DH Series was held at Isaacs last Sunday on a brand new track. This is the third time the boys have raced Isaacs and each time has been on a different track. This track was apparently brand new and probably the most technical out of any of the other Isaac tracks. The rocky section was "hectic"!
After attending our next door neighbours wedding on Saturday and Mum and Dad spending the morning in the kitchen cooking heaps of nibblies for the wedding, we couldn't get to Isaacs for any practice on Saturday.
Much to Mum & Dad's disgust, Sunday morning rolled around and we had to get out of bed and ready for the day ahead (not good after attending a wedding). We had a house guest sleep over on Sat night, Thomas' new mate Rob (next door neighbour's nephew) who lives in the Blue Mountains. Rob is also into mtbing and just happened to bring his bike and all his gear just in case he was allowed to race. Just happened he was.
Headed out at about 8:30am, the boys got a few practice runs in but mostly sectioned as the push up was absolute torture. This is when they realised the rock section was bloody tough. You were lucky if you got through the day without going over bars at least once.
Race time came around and after one run each, Thomas was coming 2nd in U15's and Andrew (we thought) was coming 1st in U13's. Thomas had a crap first run and reckoned he could pick up the 4 seconds he needed in his second run. He did that and won the U15's by 2 seconds. This was Thomas' first race on his new machine and still getting used to it, obviously very quickly.
Andrew had a really bad 2nd run, getting held up by 2 kids in the rock section, losing his balance when taking off again and stacking (nearly running over Judy Goggin in the meantime). Anyway, he got to the bottom and couldn't be bothered having a re-run as he didn't want to push up again. Results came in and Andrew had actually came 2nd. He thought the kid who beat him was racing 15's but soon found out he was in 13's. Andrew wasn't really worried as this being the last round, he had already won the Series anyway.
Final result for 2008/09 CORC Downhill Series: Thomas Crimmins 1st U15's, Andrew Crimmins 1st U13's. Go Team Crimmins!!!!
Friday, March 13, 2009
National Series Round 5 Glenorchy Tasmania
Once again Team Crimmins took to the skies. On Thursday Feb 26th Thomas and Dad boarded Qantas at Canberra airport bound for Hobart.
Arriving around 3pm and picking up our wheels, a hiace van, we then headed out to inspect the track. With expectations high due to all the talk amongst the mates and just looking around at the hills as we approached the track, we were certainly not disappointed. The finish stretch alone had massive table tops and step up jumps with huge burms.
It took around 2 hours to walk up and down the track and it revealed one of the most challenging but fun tracks seen yet, these guys have put heaps of work into this event.
We headed out to locate our accommodation only 5 mins down the road. Once again Team Crimmins star secretary (Mum) scored well booking us in at Elwick Cabins where all the Canberra crew and some of the other mountain bikers were staying. All settled in, out of the box comes the bike only to find Dad some how forgot to pack the front axle. Oh no!
Friday morning ring around revealed that "No body runs fox 40's in Tassie".
So for the next 2 hours it was a mad dash to every bike shop in Hobart with things looking very grim. I must commend Thomas for staying positive and not wigging it at dad in this very tense situation. We eventually found this great guy at a bike shop that was prepared to spend some time and he made us one up free of charge, big ups to him.
Back in the good books and back on track Thomas started doing runs, as always shuttles started out slow but picked up later. First impressions were right and the track proved to be very hard in some sections. Mid morning Thomas hit up the road gap and was also doing the big drop up near the top. Thomas managed to get in around 6 runs before closing time.
Back at camp we had a great all in BBQ and the youngsters got into their now regular trouble from the manager for making cuttie ruts around his nicely groomed park! No more riding on park grounds!!
Saturday morning as track was closed to junior riders we went into Hobart to check out the markets, very big but same old markets everywhere.
Back to track, afternoon practice went very well and Thomas was really starting to pick up the pace. He was feeling confident and getting the track dialed. Which was just as well because I had my eye on a couple of local lads in his group and they were flying. He managed to slip in around 7 runs. Only bad news for the day one of his good mates Phil broke his wrist "game over" for the trip.
Sunday; Up early and on track I managed to limit the practice runs to three, then the big wait to race run.
After the elites qualified Thomas led the U15's down in a time of 3:37.55, this proved once again too fast for the other riders with Thomas taking out 1st place by 28 seconds.
At the end of racing the presentations were held. First ones were for the race and then the overall series winners.
Thomas was awarded National U15 Mens Downhill Series Winner also being the only rider in all divisions to make a clean sweep and achieve maximum 400 points.
It was then on to the after party to celebrate, this was fish and chips with his mates down at Constitution Dock and later watching all the video footage with the gang back at camp!
Next morning it was up and pull the bike down and back in the box for the flight home at 10am.
Next on the agenda "Thomas' new ride".
Arriving around 3pm and picking up our wheels, a hiace van, we then headed out to inspect the track. With expectations high due to all the talk amongst the mates and just looking around at the hills as we approached the track, we were certainly not disappointed. The finish stretch alone had massive table tops and step up jumps with huge burms.
It took around 2 hours to walk up and down the track and it revealed one of the most challenging but fun tracks seen yet, these guys have put heaps of work into this event.
We headed out to locate our accommodation only 5 mins down the road. Once again Team Crimmins star secretary (Mum) scored well booking us in at Elwick Cabins where all the Canberra crew and some of the other mountain bikers were staying. All settled in, out of the box comes the bike only to find Dad some how forgot to pack the front axle. Oh no!
Friday morning ring around revealed that "No body runs fox 40's in Tassie".
So for the next 2 hours it was a mad dash to every bike shop in Hobart with things looking very grim. I must commend Thomas for staying positive and not wigging it at dad in this very tense situation. We eventually found this great guy at a bike shop that was prepared to spend some time and he made us one up free of charge, big ups to him.
Back in the good books and back on track Thomas started doing runs, as always shuttles started out slow but picked up later. First impressions were right and the track proved to be very hard in some sections. Mid morning Thomas hit up the road gap and was also doing the big drop up near the top. Thomas managed to get in around 6 runs before closing time.
Back at camp we had a great all in BBQ and the youngsters got into their now regular trouble from the manager for making cuttie ruts around his nicely groomed park! No more riding on park grounds!!
Saturday morning as track was closed to junior riders we went into Hobart to check out the markets, very big but same old markets everywhere.
Back to track, afternoon practice went very well and Thomas was really starting to pick up the pace. He was feeling confident and getting the track dialed. Which was just as well because I had my eye on a couple of local lads in his group and they were flying. He managed to slip in around 7 runs. Only bad news for the day one of his good mates Phil broke his wrist "game over" for the trip.
Sunday; Up early and on track I managed to limit the practice runs to three, then the big wait to race run.
After the elites qualified Thomas led the U15's down in a time of 3:37.55, this proved once again too fast for the other riders with Thomas taking out 1st place by 28 seconds.
At the end of racing the presentations were held. First ones were for the race and then the overall series winners.
Thomas was awarded National U15 Mens Downhill Series Winner also being the only rider in all divisions to make a clean sweep and achieve maximum 400 points.
It was then on to the after party to celebrate, this was fish and chips with his mates down at Constitution Dock and later watching all the video footage with the gang back at camp!
Next morning it was up and pull the bike down and back in the box for the flight home at 10am.
Next on the agenda "Thomas' new ride".
CORC round "Majura" 15th Feb 09'
With the 08/09 CORC downhill series drawing to a close we once again headed out to the pine forest of Majura on Sunday morning for the second last round.
The boys were greeted with the news that this was a totaly new track,and after talking it up with there mates headed off into the scrub to start a couple of hours practice, all push ups as there are no shuttles at Majura
The track turned out to be fairly rocky and steep up top,turning into a series of mad switch backs in the middle section then to a fast single track finish line. As always it is a case of look out for the pine trees!!
With Thomas and Andrew in good form and both boys leading there age groups in the current series they were hoping to do well.There was a fairly good turnout with a total of 91 riders spread across 11 divisions.
After the morning "sectioning" the Race time was near, so a quick snack and the 15min push up. Dad doing his bit on the half way marshell point was very busy with some new riders to the sport
At the end of the day after 2 runs and all was said and done the race results were posted in front of many expectant faces
Andrews 2 runs; very close times 1:20.30 and 1:20.05 1st place by .78 of a second
Thomas 2 runs; Also close times 1:11.35 and 1:10.44 1st place by 6 seconds
Well done Boys!! Thomas's time placed him 13th overall.
Next stop Tassie
The boys were greeted with the news that this was a totaly new track,and after talking it up with there mates headed off into the scrub to start a couple of hours practice, all push ups as there are no shuttles at Majura
The track turned out to be fairly rocky and steep up top,turning into a series of mad switch backs in the middle section then to a fast single track finish line. As always it is a case of look out for the pine trees!!
With Thomas and Andrew in good form and both boys leading there age groups in the current series they were hoping to do well.There was a fairly good turnout with a total of 91 riders spread across 11 divisions.
After the morning "sectioning" the Race time was near, so a quick snack and the 15min push up. Dad doing his bit on the half way marshell point was very busy with some new riders to the sport
At the end of the day after 2 runs and all was said and done the race results were posted in front of many expectant faces
Andrews 2 runs; very close times 1:20.30 and 1:20.05 1st place by .78 of a second
Thomas 2 runs; Also close times 1:11.35 and 1:10.44 1st place by 6 seconds
Well done Boys!! Thomas's time placed him 13th overall.
Next stop Tassie
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