MOUNT Buller played host to the Auscycling Downhill National Series last weekend, and Ballarat athletes were part of the action.<\/p>\n
Local group Club Mud was represented by about 20 riders, including junior development team member Chloe Matthews, who placed second in the under-15 division race run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty stoked, especially with my times because I wasn\u2019t expecting to do that well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was beaten by Tilly Boadle who is really good. It\u2019s a very competitive sport which can be very challenging, but it\u2019s lots of fun and you have a good time.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that there is a bigger field for girls, there are more girls to hang out with when you\u2019re competing. It also feels great to have a team that you\u2019re working for, and I like to encourage people to come and see what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1.9-kilometre course at Mount Buller featured challenging steep and slippery terrain with lots of rocks and dust, surrounded by trees to avoid.<\/p>\n
Elite male racer Darcy Coutts experienced this as part of the nationals\u2019 top category, which he said was particularly competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the top athletes throughout all of Australia go to that event to earn points to travel overseas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a good turnout, with some big names, and I had a good weekend. In my race run, I ended up taking four seconds off my qualifying time, pulling a 3:04.4, which put me in seventh place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up racing for Club Mud when there was no one there my age that I could ride with, so to be there on the weekend, to see the development and the young kids coming through from Ballarat and giving it a red hot crack was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next stage in the Victorian Downhill Series takes place this weekend at Mount Beauty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOUNT Buller played host to the Auscycling Downhill National Series last weekend, and Ballarat athletes were part of the action. Local group Club Mud was represented by about 20 riders, including junior development team member Chloe Matthews, who placed second in the under-15 division race run. \u201cI was pretty stoked, especially with my times because […]<\/p>\n