Hannahs boast mark of true champions
The crowd, the courage, the class ... it was one awe-inspiring event at Smithfield
IF you weren’t at Smithfield on Sunday for the conclusion of the 2017 UCI MTB World Championships, you missed one of the greatest sporting spectacles Cairns will ever see.
Maybe I got a bit too invested in it, but even watching the replays since, the memories of that day are simply spine-tingling.
It’s akin to when I see replays of Matty Bowen’s Origin golden-point intercept back in 2005, or the same feeling any Queenslander gets when they roll the tape of Mark Coyne’s miracle try in 1994, whether you were there or not.
While we all shared Tracey Hannah’s pain when she bundled off the bike, what happened next was inspirational – but you really had to be there to appreciate it.
The term “rollercoaster of emotions” is often thrown around a bit willy-nilly, but being part of a crowd starting off with heightened anticipation, then dropping to abject despair, then rising to hope and but fading to disappointment mixed with inspiration within five minutes was just that. Plenty of riders crashed out across the weekend but none of them jumped back to their feet and kept competing the way Tracey Hannah did.
I would go as far as to say it’s one of the most inspirational sporting moments I’ve ever been a part of.
The mark of a true champion is the way they handle ad- versity – think Cameron Smith’s speech after his Storm went down to the Sharks in the NRL grand final. Tracey handled it with so much class. She’ll be a world champion yet, even if it has to be on the other side of the world.
I was truly convinced Mick Hannah was going to win the men’s downhill. The party would have gone on for weeks.
I mentioned Cameron Smith before. The great champions look like they have so much time.
Mick reflected that in his run. It looked inch-perfect and he made it look easy.
But one man was better than him on the day. You have to give it to Loic Bruni. He was the only threat all week and he followed through.
The Frenchman did everything in his power, down to every last detail, including specially made shoes for the long sprint to the finish, in a bid to win and it paid off.
Mick, too, handled it with aplomb. That’s racing.
The Hannahs – what a pair of champions.
● In the past I have had a go at attendances for big events in the Far North, but on this occasion Cairns deserves a pat on the back.
More than 21,000 people visited the World Championships site over the course of the event, which blew organisers’ expectations out of the water.
Particularly on the Sunday, they were a huge part of the reason for the outstanding spectacle.