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.

National Series Round 1 - Glenorchy, Tas 12 Dec 2010

After round 1 at Illinbah was cancelled due to flooding, the Tassie round ended up being Round 1 instead of 2. The travel arrangements were the same as last year, Mum & Dad heading out on Wednesday to drive to Melbourne to catch the ferry over and the boys flying over on Thursday. All went to plan and even managed to get the boys a lift from the airport to the cabin with the Piazza's.

After the boys arrived, we all headed to the track for the usual track walk. Not exactly the summer weather we were hoping for but wasn't too bad. After the walk was done, we headed back to the cabin for some dinner and relaxing.

Not a real early start on Friday morning as practice didn't start until 10am. So cruisy morning with brekky and then to the shops for the usual days food supplies. Got to the track and found ourselves a good spot in amongst some bushy trees for a bit of wind protection and set up the Towers' shade tent which came in very handy over the next 3 days as it rained on and off every day. Practice went well so back to base camp, dinner, showers and bed ready for an early start on Saturday.

Saturday practice for Group B (our group) was from 8am till 1pm so we were at the track pretty early so the boys could get in some good practice. Another successful practice session over so we headed up the track to watch the Elite's and U19's seeding runs in the extremely fast roots section. After watching that, there is no way I would be watching my boys from there!

Thomas decided that he wanted some pasta (fuel food) for dinner Saturday night so we headed into Hobart City and found a cool little pizza/pasta shop and got some really good food. Into bed early ready for another early start on race day Sunday. Will be glad when the boys are in Group A as they get all the late practices.

Mum lay awake overnight listening to the wind and the rain praying that it would fine up by daybreak. At one stage, we thought the cabin was going to lift up and blow into the greyhound track. Day came and the weather didn't seem quite so bad. Got to the track and all the boys came down after their first practice run with mud all over them and their bikes. I can't actually remember the last time the boys had a race that it didn't rain.

Anyway, after a couple of time delays due to injuries, race time finally arrived. It wasn't long until Andrew's race as there was only a couple of small categories before him. Watching the timing clock and we saw that Andrew's number was on the screen so he was on track. All we could do was just watch the clock until we thought he would be coming out of the trees. Out he flies in what seemed to be a pretty good time so at least we knew he hadn't had an off and was obviously having a good run. Straight to the "hot seat" and waited for the rest of the U15's to cross the finish line. After all 12 U15 riders had come through, Andrew had taken the win by nearly 10 seconds. Good hustle champ!!!

Next it was up to Thomas to do his thing. As he was ranked #1 he was also first out of the start gate. As with Andrew, we were watching the clock again, next thing Thomas comes flying out of the trees in what also looked like a good time. Good sprint to the finish line over all the jumps and straight into the "hot seat". Thomas knew the next kid to come down was going to give him a run for his money so as he crossed the line over 3 seconds behind Thomas' time, he was very relieved. Although there were still another 17 riders yet to finish. Finally all U17's over the finish line and Thomas had taken the win. Great work mate!

Both boys ended up with the Leaders number plates and Leaders jerseys so they were pretty stoked on that. Next Round Mt Baw Baw 16 January 2011.

*** All in all, it was a great result but our thoughts have to go out to Eugene Smith, a 15 year old Tassie local who has raced against Thomas for the last 3 years who had a severe accident in practice. Eugene is in a pretty bad way and at the end of the day, win or lose, all we can really do is hope that our kids always get to the bottom of the track safely. ***

VIC State Round 1 - 17 Oct 2010

Team Crimmins hadn't had a big race for a while so 3/4 of the team decided to head to Eildon in Victoria for Round 1 of the 2010/11 VIC State Series. Although we were keeping an eye on the weather and it looked like it was going to be pretty damp, that was not enough deterent for the boys. "The more rain the better" was Thomas' response. After heading off early Friday morning to make the long trek to Eildon, it rained all the way with a few landslides and flooded roads along the way. It also took a bit longer as Googlemaps sent us on a bit of a goose chase, but eventually pulling into the motel around 4pm.

Unpacked and the boys went and found the track to do the obligatory track walk then off to the pub for a drink and a feed. Walking into the Pub and the publican said "two beers?" to Ian and Thomas. Haha, I don't think so!! Rego was also open at the Pub so got the boys registered after much perplexing by the lady a rego as to why Thomas was only 15 but entering U19's and also Andrew being 13 entering U17's. Didn't help much when Timmy Eaton walked in and told Thomas he was Sandbagging in U19's lol.

Practice on Saturday went well with Thomas managing to stay on the bike all day and Andrew only having about 4 crashes. One in particular into a massive mud puddle, head first, hmmm, clothes and helmet full of mud. The track was soooo muddy and slippery there was people running off the track everywhere. Including the cars trying to get to the race village on the road.

Sunday race day and luckily it had stopped raining but the track was still really wet and muddy. Couple of practice runs and Andrew headed up for his qualifying run. Yes, they qualify the U17's as well in Vic and only take the top 50% through to their race run. Same as U19's. Andrew was up first for his qualifying run and came down the hill first as he was number 701 cos he was the first to register in U17's. All 44 riders down and turns out Andrew qualified 2nd in a time of 3:41.812. Pretty good effort for his first ever qualifying experience. Next was Thomas' turn and he had a pretty cruisy run and come down in a time of 3:13.627 which was the fastest time out of all 57 riders in U19's.

Bit of a spell and watching some of the other categories race and it was time for Andrew to head up again for his race run. He ended up having a clean race run with no major stacks and posted a time of 3:26.119, 15 seconds better than his qualifying run and ended up in 2nd place. Stoked on that great effort especially in U17's. Only beaten by a 16 year old!!!

Thomas then headed up for his race run. Hoping for a clean run also. As Thomas qualified fastest, he was the last to start his race run. He ended up posting a time of 3:01.338, 12 seconds faster than qualifying which also put him into 1st place. Well done mate, great effort also.

Another successful road trip for Team Crimmins with the boys coming home with cash and a big stash of prizes and trophies. Thanks to the organisers and sponsors for running a great race and handing out excellent prizes. There were over 370 riders at the event, especially considering the weather, it was an unreal turnout and most of them hung around for presso's too which makes for a great atmosphere. Hopefully we'll be back for Round 2 at Barjarg.

2010 NSW/ACT STATE CHAMPS - LITHGOW 12 JULY

After both boys placing first in the State Series, the Team headed off to Lithgow hoping to continue the good form. We arrived at Lithgow just after lunch on the Friday (thanks Glen for the dodgy directions, haha). We headed straight to the bottom to drop off the boys and Mum so they could walk the track and see what changes had been made since last year. Not many according to the boys but they said the track still looks like fun. To the top, kitted up and off to do some runs. After about 7 runs, Mum & Dad had had enough so we all headed to our nice little cottage Mum had rented in Mt Victoria, about 20 mins drive away. No camping for us at Lithgow in the middle of winter!

Saturday saw us all up early and headed to the track to get in some runs. A bit of rain overnight saw the track quite damp and slippery in the middle section but still pretty dry and tacky at the top and bottom. Shuttles as usual were pretty slow with over 200 riders keen to get in as many practice runs as possible so it always pays to do runs on the Friday. Mum & Dad spent most of the day walking up and down the track watching the action, especially in Bumble Bee where it was quite slippery. Practice finished about 4:30 so we headed back 'home' and went to the pub for a nice dinner with the Evans's who were staying with us.

An early start again on race day Sunday. With a bit of rain overnight and clouds threatening in the sky, we were hoping the rain would hold off for the day (well some of us, Thomas loves riding in the rain and mud :\). However, it was not to be, whoever was doing the rain dance, it was working and it started drizzling rain in the morning and continued to do so throughout the day and it was freezing but lucky we had the trusty Morewood tent to hang out in. This made the track even more muddy and slippery in parts. Practice over at 11:30 and Thomas headed to the top for his seeding run. As Thomas was ranked #1 in U19's, he was the first to start for seeding, crossing the line in a 3:03.29 eventually putting him in 4th place for seeding. He didn't push himself in seeding and just wanted to post a reasonable time so was happy with that.

Eventually Andrew's race time came around so he headed to the top to get ready for his race run. Andrew was first off in the U15's and came over the finish line in a very fast time of 3:11.93. After all 16 riders had crossed the finish line, it turned out Andrew had come 2nd by about 2 seconds. Andrew had a good run and managed to stay on track through the very slippery Bumble Bee section so although he wasn't happy not to have won, he did extremely well to finish in the time he did considering that 3rd place was more than 10 seconds behind him. Props to Matt who won the U15's, he's been trying to beat Andrew for ages!!

Back to the top for Thomas to get ready for his race run. After all other divisions had raced on the track, and more rain, we could only imagine what condition it was in for the U19's and Elite's race runs. Thomas came flying out of the scrub and as we looked at the time, we could tell he was going to post a very fast time, which he did finishing in a time of 2:57.82. Sitting in the hot seat after 35 riders and with only 3 riders yet to finish, Thomas had a nervous wait. David came over first, not quite fast enough, Phil next, also not fast enough leaving only Deano to finish, we could see him coming and looking at the time, knew he wouldn't post a faster time. Yes, it was confirmed, just 2 weeks after turning 15 Thomas had become Under 19 NSW/ACT State DH Champion. We were all absolutely Stoked.

All said and done it was a very successful weekend. We have a bit of respite now until the National Series starts in November.

CORC Round 3 - Majura Pines 20th June 2010

With virtually no rest after Del Rio, the wheels rolled on, Dads back home, Andrews still on the lounge with the flu and a bad haircut and Mums caught up washing race kits and undies.

Saturday was bike maintenance which ended up with a trip to Canberra for new BB, and while we were there it was decided that dad and Thomas might as well have a look at the new Majura track. Quick install BB in car park and some push up sectioning. Thomas decided the track was sick, wet and slippery on the higher switch backs and tacky on the tight single track in the lower sections. As it turned out all the dedicated DH lads were out and a great afternoon was had riding with mates.

Sunday; With Andrew unfortunately still crook Dad and Thomas had to go it alone!. We arrived around 10 to a rapidly building field of riders. Dad on barbie then marshaling, Thomas push up sectioning.

After taking out the series in 13's 15's and 17's Thomas decided to skip 19's and challenge the elite boys.15 years old this week!

12.30pm 1st race run. With most of the field finishing around 2mins plus, the elite boys hit the track, Tim Eaton pipped the field in a 1:40.27 and Thomas finishing in 5th in 1:46.84.

2.30pm Second run. Thomas decided to lift the pace. Ben Cory took the honours with a very fast 1:40.08 and Tim Eaton using his first run time Thomas secured 3rd place with a time of 1:42.70. There were 26 riders in elite and his time was 3rd fastest of the 92 riders on the day, Great effort!

The lads are now pumped for The State Champs at Lithgow, coming soon!

NSW/ACT State Rnd 4 - Del Rio 13 June 2010

Another State Series has come to an end. And a very successful one it was for Team Crimmins. The last round was held on one of the boys most favourite 'real' downhill tracks (not Mum's favourite) but they seem to love the tracks with all the big scary items on them of which Del Rio has many.

Poor Dad missed Del Rio again this year due to OS work commitments. So the rest of the team headed off early Friday morning in the huge frost and -8 deg temp to head for what we thought would be the warmth of the North. We were actually very lucky with the weather all weekend but as soon as that sun went behind that hill, it was bloody freezing.

Anyway, after 6 hours on the road, we arrived at our destination to what we though would be a nice little cabin in the "Resort". Well, didn't we have that idea completely wrong, but that's a whole other story. We parked the car and headed up the hill so the boys could walk the track before coming back to get their bikes and a lift to the top for their one practice run for the day. It gets awfully dark on the track when the sun starts to go down.

Saturday morning was relaxed as we didn't have to drive anywhere, the boys just had to ride to the end of our road to catch the shuttle bus. After brekkie, the boys headed off so Mum, Jenny and Eloise decided to walk the track. Practice went really well with the boys all getting in some good runs and happy with the shuttles being so fast but also hating the push from the road to the top of the track. After walking the push bit, I can't really blame them. After dinner we went to the Piazza's camp to hang out around the fire and be entertained by Genaro who was in fine form after a few beers.

Sunday morning was pretty cruisy again with the boys only wanting to do a couple of practice runs before race. The boys went off to practice while Mum & Jenny got the stew ready to put in the crock pot to cook for the day (gotta love those crock pots). The girls eventually headed over to the bottom of the track where they would watch the race from. Thomas and Robbie headed off for their seeding runs which were due to start at 12:30pm.

Mum parked herself right near the finish line so she could enter the results on the Series Points table as soon as they came in. Seeding over with and Thomas ended up seeding 3rd but said he wasn't pushing himself and thought he could make up some time for his race run.

Andrew's turn to head to the top for his race run. Andrew was the first of the U15 riders to come down and as he came over the finish line, we knew he didn't have a good run. His helmet had a fair bit of dirt in it and it turned out that he crashed underneath the safety net at one of the tight corners but still managed to post a 2:20.79 which saw him place 3rd out of 10 riders. Still a very good effort.

Finally it was Thomas' turn for his race run. After waiting for the first 26 riders to come over the finish line, Thomas came flying out of the trees and over the finish jump in a very impressive time of 2:01.38, eight seconds faster than his seeding run. Only two riders left on course in the U19, Dean looked like he was having a really good run until landing all wrong at the bottom jump and hugging a tree. Bad luck Deano. Then Jake came over the finish jump and we could see he wasn't going to beat Thomas' time so all over with and Thomas placed first out of 29 riders in U19's. He said he had a really good run and was stoked with his win.

Both boys managed to place first in 3 out of 4 rounds so therefore had enough points to place first overall for the 2010 NSW/ACT State Downhill Series. Well done Team.

NSW/ACT State Rnd 3 - Stromlo 16 May 2010

Round 3 of the State Series was held on the 2009 World Cup track at Stromlo in Canberra on 15/16 May 2010. Lucky for us it was another one close to home so we just traveled in each day. Thomas got a lift to Stromlo with Dad on Friday and Jenny was kind enough to do shuttles for him and Rob for the afternoon, getting a lift home with Mum after work.

Up early on Saturday morning as Mum had the job of Volunteer Marshal Co-ordinator for the weekend and the boys wanted to get in some good practice. We set up camp in the Morewood tent and headed off to sign in and get practice under way. Practice went well and no major mis-haps which is always a good thing. Off home to clean bikes and get ready for the next day.

Another early start on Sunday as usual, leaving home about 7:30. A few practice runs and Thomas headed to the start for his seeding run. All went well and Thomas Seeded 2nd behind Deano (although the results said he seeded 4th but that was corrected after race) out of 42 Under 19 riders.

After a bit of chilling in the tent, Andrew headed to the top for his race run. Mum was standing near the finish line to watch the race runs and could see Andrew in the distance pinning it down the hill. Holding her breath he would make it down safe as he comes pedalling his heart out over the finish line in a time of 2:56.64. After all 15 riders came through, Andrew had won by nearly 10 seconds and was the only U15 rider to go under 3 mins. Good work Andrew.

Again it was Thomas' turn to head back up this time for his race run. As riders crossed the finish line, we waited until Thomas was on track and watched him make his way down the hill. Thomas' main rival, David had already crossed the finish line so we watched and held our breath as Thomas came over the last jump, landing it nicely and crossing the finish line in a 2:47.82, eventually winning by only about half a second. Pheww, Great riding Thomas. That one XC training ride you did really paid off, lol.

At the end of the day, Thomas would have placed 4th in Elite and Andrew's time would have seen him 4th in U17's and 10th in Elite. Both boys improved their times by 3 seconds from the National Round there in March. Great weekend, great result.