Caroline Buchanan and Sarsha Huntington battling it out for the 4x

Caroline Buchanan and Claire Buchar both continued their winning ways in the weekend’s racing in Shepparton for the second round of the Australian National Series. The lovely Sarsha Huntington let us know how it all went down:

4X Report:

Shepparton is located at the top end of Victoria and is a large country town that in summer is boiling hot. With 4X racing on the Friday in 42 degree heat it was going to be tough. Numbers for the girls were low again but the 2 best in the country were there to race, World Champion, Caroline Buchanan and World #7, Sarsha Huntington. Not to mention the little young gun of 12 yr old, Loren Vanetie.

The heat was hard to race in but the final was on. Caroline had the snap this time and got some distance on Sarsha, but coming into the 1^st corner Sarsha went tight and made up some ground. Caroline lead right till the last corner were Sarsha tried to make a move on the inside again and nearly got there but was unlucky. Caroline crossed the line once again in 1st, with Sarsha in 2^nd and Loren in 3^rd.

Sarsha Huntington still holds the Series Leader Jersey.

Downhill:

Sarsha riding the dusty DH track

The DH track was located just outside of Shepparton on the only hill around. The track was a really open, off camber, slippery and fast track. Claire Buchar had once again made the trip with her husband to this round and was looking good to take another win. While Leigh Douglas was looking to steal that top step.

Race day, Leigh had a much cleaner run then her seeding run and slotted into 1^st place just ahead of Sarah Booth but there was still 3 more riders to come down the hill. Emma Lewis was unlucky and had a crash on the way down. 4X Rider, Sarsha Huntington was next and had surprised everyone including herself on seeding 2nd place. Sarsha had a steady run but later she commented that she had had quite a few mistakes. She sprinted to the line and crossed it 0.48secs in front of Leigh to put her in the hot chair. The favourite, Claire Buchar, was still to come and she sprinted over the line to take out 1^st place, 11 secs faster than 2^nd place. In the end Claire was 1^st, Sarsha 2^nd & Leigh 3^rd. With Leigh Douglas holding the Series Leader Jersey.

4x Results
1 Caroline Buchanan
2 Sarsha Huntington
3 Loren Vanetie

Full PDF here

Elite Women 4x podium. From left: Sarsha Huntington, Caroline Buchanan, Loren Vanetie

DH Results
Elite Women
1 Claire Buchar
2 Sarsha Huntington
3 Leigh Douglas
4 Shelley Kamevaar
5 Sarah Booth
6 Emma Lewis
7 Shannon Chugg

Under 19 women
1 Holly Baarspul
2 Emily Hockey
3 , Katelyn Humphris
4 Christie Batt
5 Bec Kirss

Under 15 Women
1 Molloy, Tegan

Master Women
1 Jillian Brady

Full results here

Elite women DH podium. From left: Shelley Kamevaar, Sarsha Huntington, Claire Buchar, Leigh Douglas, Sarah Booth

Awesome Land is a series of DVDs being produced by the good people at Bones Over Metal dot com. The first DVD in the series, Women of Dirt, will be premiering on the 5th of Feb in Seattle. The film features fanstastic riding from Tammy Donahugh, Stephanie Nychka, Cierra Smith, Emily Johnston, Lisa Myklak, Jill Kintner, Leana Gerrard, Dawn Cashen, Katrina Strand, Kathy Pruitt, and Darcy Turenne.

We asked rider and co-producer of the film Leana Gerrard  to tell us a bit more about what went on during the filming of Women of Dirt:

As I stand on top of the mountain the sun gleaming off my goggle lenses, all I can hear is the hurricane strength winds blowing through the long grass which envelops my fancy new clip shoes. The raw grasp of nature tugs on my every sense as the world stands still for just one moment. I take a deep breath, as if by doing so am able to preserve that moment of undiluted, unequivocal freedom and joy.

I glance down at the trail ahead and notice that it disappears into the thick fir forest 100 meters away and I can’t help but smile, as I know this is going to be one hell of a ride.

Awesome Land is that place that you cherish, that place that holds such a high value that it rates among Christmas and puppies as your favorite things. And amid all the chaos of your life it is that place you look most forward to spending time at. Not all Awesome Lands are the same. For some it might be a skate park, for others a chairlift assisted mountainside. Some prefer the dirt jumps while for a select few Awesome Land is the no-mans-land outside the local Frisko Freeze which strategically is located directly adjacent to an outlet mall.

Cierra Smith. Photo by her Dad

Woman of Dirt aims to share the Awesome Lands of eleven individual ladies who venerate the bike, worship hero dirt, and exist for the next day of riding.

From a former world champion to a freestyle pioneer there is no shortage of personalities and riding styles with the women featured.  You get a unique opportunity to follow some of the sports top female athletes as they let you tag along for a day in their life.

Miles Sullivan and Mark Brent are the brave souls who not only talked about making this much overdue film- but made it happen! These men saw not just girls riding bikes but the unique camaraderie, undiluted bliss and passion for bikes that seemingly binds all female mountain bikers. They sought to tell the stories of these women and show off their skills and style in a pseudo documentary.

When Mark and Miles approached me about doing a section in the film, they gave me the option of where I wanted to shoot my scene. When I was thinking of some of the most awesome places I’ve ridden, Hood River, Oregon was on the top of my list.

When we showed up we had some time to kill in town so we decided to have a mini bike sesh. Now, I had never really ridden one and of course they decided to turn the cameras on for what promised to have disaster written all over it. A little mini bike 101 lesson and we were off- literally. I know I crashed a couple of times, one of which I had kept a death grip on the throttle until a large tree decided to save me from my damsel in distress situation.

Little Moab was the name of the trail I chose to ride on. The trail got its name because it teeters on the side of the cliffs much like the trails in Moab, Utah. It was a glorious day for shooting video, Mark and Miles were going nuts for the lighting and my riding buddy Looch Worl and I were going crazy for the hero dirt. Well, that was until we got to the cliff side at which point the 50 mph gusts of wind were a bit of a deterrent when riding on the edge of the 500 foot cliffs. It was scary, like crazy scary. I think I told Mark that never before have I gone so slow and had a heart rate so high simply from the terror of falling over the edge.

Tammy Donahugh during filming for Women of Dirt.

The highlights of my day of riding for the video include:

5. Learning how to ride mini bikes, even if I did have to crash a few times.
4. Winning in a target-shooting contest with a pistol.
3. Hanging out with Mark, Miles, Daniel and Looch and just having an awesome day with the boys.
2. Riding some of the most picturesque trails in the country.
1. Being asked to prom by Looch Worl. You better believe I’ll be going!

The movie is having it’s premier at the Northwest Film Forum Theater in Seattle on Feb 5^th.  Everyone is encouraged to come out and if you can’t make it to this event, there will be no shortage of showings across the country and world in the following weeks.

For more information go to www.womenofdirt.com

Shred gnar, and have fun on your bike!

-Leana

More info on the first screening of the film is on Bones Over Metal dot com.

Once again, World Cup Champ Sabrina Jonnier took the top spot at this weekend’s NZ Cup round in Dunedin. Gabby Molloy from Rotorua was the fastest kiwi, finishing in second place ahead of France’s Sophie Borderes. There were only four Elite women, and with Rita Langley DNF’ing due to a mechancial in race run it was another small podium.

Gabby riding one of the dry sections of track in Dunedin.

The open women category was down to 5 competitors by race run, with 5 of the original entrants going for rides in the ambulance with injuries ranging from lacerated liver, broken wrist, suspected fractured tailbone and a cut lip needing nine stitches. Dunedin’s notorious rock gardens were responsible for most of the carnage. 2008’s junior champ Charlotte Clouston missed last season due to an injury of her own, but took the win this time over Gerogia Wight and Veronique Sandler.

The series continues this weekend with the notorious Kaka Hill track in Nelson.We have more photos from the event, and they will be available on the new site when it launches at the end of this month.

Fulle results here.

Elite Women

1 Sabrina Jonnier
2 Gabrielle Molloy
3 Sophie Borderes
DNF Rita Langley

Open Women

1 Charlotte Clouston
2 Georgia Wight
3 Veronique Sandler
4 Baylee Jackson
5 Megan Muretta
DNS Naomi Wilson, Sarah Atkin, Maddie Taylor, Emma Akerlind, Sophie Tyas, Shell Cobby

4x Elite Women podium. From left: Sarsha Huntington, Caroline Buchanan, and Emily Hockey

Claire Buchar was fastest in the weekend’s DH racing at the Australian National Championships, with fellow Canadian Leigh Douglas in second. The Australian National Champion title went to Claire Whiteman, third fastest on the day.

Sarsha Huntington on the dusty DH track for Australian Nationals. Cheers to Sarsha for the photos in this article

Here’s the lowdown on the 4x from silver medalist Sarsha Huntington:

The 2010 Australian National Championships were held in Adelaide just after the blistering heat that was scorching the State. In the week leading up to the event many riders was starting to get nervous about the issues that come with the heat. Was it just going to be too hot to race to the best of their ability. But luckily the weather took a turn for the better and I was off to Adelaide to race.

Coming into the Championships it was happy to hear that the World 4X Champion, Caroline Buchanan was going to be racing at the event. For the Champs we are required to complete a timed qualifying run in which Sarsha Huntington recorded the fastest time over Caroline by 1.5secs. This meant that the 2 favourites would not meet until the final.

Both Sarsha and Caroline won their semi-finals with ease. The final came and the gate dropped and Sarsha had the start but not the legs to beat Caroline into the first corner. Sarsha slotted in behind her with a slight rub of her rear wheel. Down the next straight Caroline and Sarsha took a different lines and Sarsha made up quite some ground. Into the second corner it was tight and both of them couldn’t fit into the small inside rut. They buzzed wheels quite heavily this time and both nearly got caught up. They stayed on the bikes and once again Sarsha was on the chase. She tried another move in the third corner but with less luck and unclipped from her pedals. From there Caroline had a good gap and sprinted to the finish for the win. Her 5^th National Title in a row.

In the end the Huntington Husband & Wife Team took home silver in both Elite Women & Men for the 4X and Luke Madill took Gold in the Mens.

Full DH results here, and 4x here.

Elite Women – DH
1 Claire Buchar
2 Leigh Douglas
3 Claire Whiteman
4 Leonie Picton
5 Emma Lewis
6 Julia Boer
7 Joanne Fox
8 Shannon Chugg
9 Shelly Flood
10 Sarsha Huntington

Under 19 Women – DH
1 Emily Hockey
2 Holly Baarspul
3 Christie Batt

Elite women – 4X
1.    Caroline Buchanan (ACT)
2.    Sarsha Huntington (QLD)
3.    Emily Hockey (SA)
4.    Charise Atkinson – DNF

Bones Over Metal dug this wee gem out of their archives when the were working the upcoming Awesomeland DVD. Featuring styley jumps form Stephanie Nychka, Claire Buchar, Katrina Strand and others, it’s a nice overview the best riding at the event.