SILVER LINING FOR MTB STAR
Young rider in the hunt at nationals
CYCLING: Less than three seconds separated mountain biker Jacson McNamara from Australian School’s National Championships gold recently.
Competing in the XCE (a time trial 800m sprint race) and XCO (three laps of 4.8km circuit) events at the Mountain Bike Australia School’s National Championships on the Gold Coast McNamara lost each of the respective finals by little over a second each time.
And while he would’ve preferred gold, the 14-year-old Highfields student was still pleased with his performances.
“The guy who got first (in the XCO) knew what he was doing,” McNamara said.
“Every time I tried to pass him he’d sprint to hold me off.
“I probably should’ve tried to pass him a bit earlier but there wasn’t much opportunity to pass on that track.
“We were close the whole way and I tried to get him near the finish were the track widens out.”
Racing at Nerang on the cross country track purpose built for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, McNamara said his choice of bike played a part in medal winning performances.
“Normally I race the longer events so competing in the sprints wasn’t a big deal – it was only for a day,” he said.
“It was a pretty rocky and technical track too but that didn’t bother me too much.
“It was probably a bit easier for me because I was on a dually (dual suspension bike).
“Most of the other guys were on hard tails (bikes with front suspension only), they were just bouncing up and down.
“It was important to try and start fast.”
More than 60 schools had riders and teams competing in the championships – 80 riders nominated in the Year 7/8 XCO race McNamara competed in. RACE DETAILS: XCO translates as Cross Country Olympic. XCE translates as Cross Country Eliminator. Riders complete an individual time trial to determine the top 16. The top 16 riders then race in waves of four with the slowest two riders eliminated after each heat.