Adrian Jackson (Flight Centre Scott Team, Melbourne Bicycle Centre) finished an outstanding race to place 8th in the elite men’s race at the Australian MTB cross country championships at Mt Stromlo last Saturday.  The elite field was one of the strongest in recent years including Olympian Sid Taberlay and Commonwealth Games rider and reigning Australian Champion Chris Jongewaard who only last week was 2nd in a stage of the Tour Downunder.

The race was dominated from start to finish by the powerhouse Jongewaard, who won by a little over 3 minutes from Murray Spink and former international Perren Delacour.  Former two time Australian Champion Sid Taberlay ‘blew up’ on the 4th of 6 laps and rode defensively to the finish. AJ and a group other riders, including National Series leader, Aiden Leffman, were fast closing the gap.

The Mt Stromlo course was a tough 8 km loop with around 200 metres of climb.  The first 3 km of the course rose 160 metres of the total leaving the remainder of the course a mixture of tight, descending switch-back corners and super-fast, flowing single track.  AJ’s result bodes well for this coming weekend’s 100 km MTB race from Apollo Bay to Forrest in the Otway Ranges.