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Little did Peta Mullens and Chris Jongewaard know when they won the 2019 Australian Cyclo-cross Championships in 2019 that they were signing up for a three year term, but then came the COVID-19 pandemic. The travel restrictions that curtailed travel both internationally and domestically decimated the national cyclocross season.
The long wait for a new champion, however, ended last weekend. As riders prepared to battle for the elite time trial rainbow jerseys at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, just down the road at GreenValleys Mountain Bike Park the long wait to see who would claim the green and gold cyclo-cross jerseys ended.
Rebecca Locke had dominated the national series throughout 2022 and finally got her chance to reclaim the women’s elite title she had last held in 2016. Matilda ‘Tilly’ Field (RoxSolt-Liv SRAM) came second while teammate Mullens, not long recovered from COVID-19, still found her way onto the podium with third.
“After having such a great cx season it was SO GOOD to finish it off with winning the National Cyclocross Elite Title,” said Locke on Instagram. “This one meant a lot!”
In the elite men’s competition the long reign of Jongewaard was always going to come to an end as the four-time winner wasn’t racing. It was Garry Millburn (MAAP Sixpence), who over the years had been a regular rival to Jongewaard, that had dominated throughout the national series in 2022. However, the rider who thrives in the muddiest and slipperiest of conditions was never going to find a course to play to his strengths in the sunny spring Wollongong conditions.
It was Tom Chapman (Team BridgeLane), the U23 men’s winner in 2014 and 2016, who crossed the line first to take the jersey that had belonged to Jongewaard for six years. Cameron Wright (Giant Factory Off Road), the junior cross-country mountain bike world champion in 2017, came second while the 2015 U23 cyclo-cross title winner, Chris Aitken, was third. Millburn finished in seventh.
In the U23 categories, Declan Trezise took a commanding victory in the men’s race while it was Talia Simpson who rode her way into green and gold in the women’s category. Ruby Dobson and Levi Doherty claimed the junior titles.
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