TWO riders from Canberra claimed Australian titles on a day when Derby was widely hailed as the nation’s new capital of mountain biking.
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Brendan Johnston and Jenny Blair took out contrasting maiden Australian cross-country marathon titles.
Johnston fought a cat-and-mouse battle with another ACT young gun Mark Tupalski for much of the 90-kilometre men’s race while Irish-born Blair was in a class of her own to win the 70km women’s race for a fourth time but finally don a green and gold jersey three months after becoming an Australian citizen.
‘‘Derby is the new place to be as a mountain biker,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s going to be the new Australian mountain bike hub.’’
After nearly five hours of racing on the new Blue Derby trails, Johnston finally broke away to beat Tupalski by 1min 40secs with reigning champion Andrew Blair having to settle for an all-ACT podium and the knowledge that his wife had won the women’s race.
Johnston, 23, was delighted with the result having survived a battle with cancer four years ago and lost his grandmother earlier this week.
‘‘This is pretty big for me,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s my first national title and I’m over the moon.
‘‘This is good for my confidence because I’m striving for selection for the Rio Olympics.
‘‘I wasn’t overly confident coming in. I’ve been on it for a while, since the beginning of the national series, so I’m getting towards the end of my peak and I was worried I might be over the hill but I was able to pull this one out so I’m really happy.’’
After main rival Jenni King, of Victoria, suffered a double flat and pulled out early, Blair cruised to her fourth win but first under her married name and new nationality. Blair had also won the Irish title and retains a strong accent from her native West Meath, but said gaining Australian citizenship made this win special.
‘‘It feels very Aussie!’’ said the 37-year-old. ‘‘Thanks for having me and g’day mate.
‘‘It’s really nice to have the jersey from two nations but this is more prestigious because there is more competition here.’’
Two of Blair’s previous wins came in Mount Joyce, Queensland, but she said her reception in Tasmania was much warmer.
Blair won by almost 10 minutes from Eliza Kwan with Victorian Rebecca Locke becoming the day’s only non-ACT medallist.
Launceston’s Jody Bush narrowly pipped Hobart’s Edwina Hughes to be first Tasmanian in eighth place while Hadspen’s Tom Goddard had the same distinction by finishing seventh in the men’s race.
The race was round 7 of the UCI’s world mountain bike marathon series and a key qualifier for Australia’s team for the marathon world championships.