Wednesday’s forecast for the long distance qualifiers suggested rain was a possibility, with local thunderstorms.  Decisions were being made whether to take mud tyres or stay with tyres currently being used for the dry forest.  All of the Australian riders chose to use dry tyres, which proved to be a good call as the afternoon’s event was dry.

The Australian riders thought that the area was certainly harder than previous days, with a lot more route choice, and also hiller.

In the women’s race there were two heats of 30. Thorlene Egerton placed 13^th in heat A with 58 qualifying for the A final.

The men’s field had three heats and the top 20 from each qualified for the A final, which included Alex Randall (6^th), Paul Darvodelsky (13^th) and David Simfendorfer (15^th). David Wood (26^th) was in a very competitive heat and navigated well but made a few doubtful route choices. Tony Clark placed 31^st in his heat, with his excellent ride being spoilt by one large 10min mistake in a large area of indistinct tracks.

Tommorow is a rest day before the long distance final on Friday with the men riding 39Km and the women 28Km

Results  Splits