Canberra, AUS- WC#6 BY BRYN
CANBERRA,AUS
How exciting, we Just had a World Cup in Australia, I know Stromlo isn't the most ideal mountain bike destination, but it was pretty good this weekend because of the atmosphere. It means a lot to me, as a pro racing outside Australia, to get to come home and show everyone what we do every weekend all over the world.
The crowds that showed up in Canberra would rival Scotland World Cup crowd for their enthusiasm towards Mountain biking. I have honestly never experienced anything like the crowd during Saturday practice, They were so wild, It felt like a race run with everyone cheering, and we weren't even racing yet! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! The World Champs here next year are going to be crazy!
Surprise surprise, it rained on race day, it's so funny, no matter where we go on planet Earth, whenever there is a World Cup, there is rain. It had not rained in canberra in like 5 months, so weird. The rain didn't really have any negative effects on the track because it was so dry and dusty, but the grueling 30 second flat sprint to the finish, was pretty sloppy and boggy, so it made it all the more Brutal.
I didn't stick around and watch the 4x, so I don't have any photos to put up. It ran till about 9pm and it was the night before DH. I think there was an all aussie top 5 in the men, Stainsa (Jared Graves) took the win, and Canberra local Caroline Buchanan got her first win.
Poor old matti (Lehikoinen) Busted both his wrists, in a vicious crash, where he went head first into a concrete lip. He was actually pretty positive on race day, and has gone home to Finland to have surgery there, heal up bro.
It has been 4 weeks since I tore the cartilage between my ribs in Canada, and I went out for a test ride on Wednesday afternoon to see if i could handle it, I wrapped my chest up in an elastic bandage, and it was manageable. I did minimal practice during the week, skipping the first day, and only doing 5 runs before the race, to take it easy on the ribbers.
I qualified 10th, but had trouble breathing at the end with my chest all wrapped up, so decided to unwrap for the final. I had a Pinned run going, but kinda just ran out of puff on the last straight. I finished 9th, I'm really happy, cause it has been a while. This year has been pretty crazy, and it was nice to be able to put on a show in front of a home crowd. Minnaar Won by a large margin, he was flying the whole way down, when he got to the last pedaling bit, he just turned it up even more, he was pedaling so strong and hard, super impressive.
Schadminger next week, should be a pretty fun race, that track is sick!!
Photo credit goes to my 'little' brother Rhys. 
Downhill results
Women
1 Tracey Moseley (GBR)
2 Rachel Atherton (GBR)
3 Sabrina Jonnier (FRA)
4 Fionn Griffiths (GBR)
5 Emmeline Ragot
6 Sheryl Macleod (NZL)
7 Mio Suemasa (JPN)
8 Helen Gaskell (GBR)
9 Florian Pugin (FRA)
10 Anita Molick (AUT)
Men
1 Greg Minnaar (RSA)
2 Nathan Rennie (AUS)
3 Gee Atherton (GBR)
4 Fabien Baral (FRA)
5 Chris Kovarik (AUS)
6 Andrew Neethling (RSA)
7 Steve Peat (GBR)
8 Jared Rando (AUS)
9 Bryn Atkinson (AUS)
10 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZL)