All day, every day spent together in pursuit of victory
MOUNTAIN BIKING: If the couple that rides together stays together, then Dan and Rebecca McConnell are in it for the long haul.
Married last year, the pair will fly the flag for Australia in the men’s and women’s mountain bike events at the Commonwealth Games today, hoping to upgrade their bronze medals from the Glasgow 2014 Games.
They also competed at the London and Rio Olympics, but this is their first Games as husband and wife.
Rebecca (nee Henderson) finished fourth and Dan fifth at the Oceania Championships in New Zealand in February before finetuning their preparation for the Gold Coast Games.
“We spend all day, every day together,” Rebecca said. “We train together and that can be up to five hours on the bike each day, but it works well for us.”
Dan has won a silver and a bronze medal at cross-country world cups and is also a talented road cyclist who has ridden in the Tour Down Under, in 2015.
The Gold Coast course at Nerang National Park is 4.5km long and requires a combination of technique, speed and skill to get up the climbs and down the tricky descents. Riders will complete an unspecified number of laps and whoever covers the greatest distance in the required time wins.
Mountain bike made its Commonwealth Games debut in Manchester in 2002 and was on the program at Melbourne in 2006 and Glasgow in 2014.
Australia has not won gold in men’s or women’s racing.
“It’s a pretty hard course. Getting around it at a leisurely speed isn’t too bad but as soon as you start putting some fast laps together you realise it’s quite physically demanding,” Dan said.
“It’s a track that’s fairly high speed everywhere so you have to keep your concentration about you all the time.”
Rebecca said she had high expectations going into race day.
“We never go into a race aiming for second or third,” she said.
“You go there because you want to win, but it’s also about controlling the things you can control.” – Reece Homfray TEAM EFFORT: Dan and Rebecca McConnell. It’s a husband-and-wife double act at the mountain bike event at Nerang National Park today with Dan and Rebecca McConnell both in medal contention over the testing 4.5km course. It’s medals time on the sands of Coolangatta and Australia will feature in both the men’s and the women’s events. Athletes compete in hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon for the top step of the podium. More medal action at Broadbeach with the women’s triples at 5.30pm. Earlier in the day, Aussie Aaron Wilson will fly the flag in his singles quarter-final at 9am. Rio Olympic silver medallist England’s Jack Laugher is the man to beat, but teen tyro Matthew Carter could sneak onto the podium if he is at his best. Adelaide’s Kurtis Marschall is the gold medal favourite. Brooke Stratton has medal written all over her. Canadian opponent Christabel Nettey landed a 6.92m jump to beat Stratton (6.88m) in Brisbane two weeks ago. The biggest certainty of the Games, Australia’s Dani Stevens, will defend her Commonwealth title. Melissa Wu made her Games debut as a 13-year-old in Melbourne in 2006 and would love a golden Games farewell. Big chance of a medal for Victorian Luke Mathews, who is in the form of his life. Joseph Deng, 19, is a great story and one to watch for the future.
Cycling: women’s crosscountry (10.31am) and men’s cross-country (1.31pm) Beach volleyball: men’s and women’s medal matches from 3.30pm Gymnastics: individual all-around final, 4.43pm Lawn bowls: women’s triples medal matches, 5.30pm Diving: men’s 3m springboard final, 7.07pm Athletics: men’s pole vault final, 7.25pm Athletics: women’s long jump final, 7.55pm Athletics: women’s discus throw final, 8.40pm Diving: women’s 10m platform final, 9.14pm Athletics: men’s 800m final, 10.13pm