The Western Australian MTBO State Championships were held this weekend.  For the first time a Middle Distance Championship was held on Saturday, with the Long Distance on Sunday.  Both events were held on a new map in the Carinayh/Pickering Brook area in the hills close to Perth.

Duncan Sullivan set an exciting and challenging middle distance event that saw a clear winner in the form of Ricky Thackray for the men’s, ahead of Pete Shanley and Jason Wallington.   All three place getters achieving their best ever results ahead of more fancied riders in the form of John Toomey, Eoin Rothery and Ian Dalton.  The women’s race was a fairly close affair with Cath Chalmers and Jen Graham-Talyor swapping the lead a few times.  They were closely follwed by Sarah Dunnage.  In the end Cath took out the win.

Sunday’s Long Distance event was set by Tony Simpkins and the courses tested the riders to their limits.  After a dry end to winter, there was plenty of pea gravel around to test weary muscles and frayed nerves with Ricky Thackray pulling off another convincing win. Today Jen Graham-Taylor put her superior fitness and commitment to training to good use with a comprehensive victory over yesterday’s winner.

Full results