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Australian
National Series 2007-08 The Australian National Downhill Series was only 4 races on the East Coast of Australia. The first round was held on the Island of Tasmania a full days flying away from home; so I didn't go. The second round was held at Illinbah, just an hours drive from my place on the Gold in Queensland. The third round was held in Thredbo, NSW, only 6 hours flight away and one of my favourite courses. The Final round was held in Mt Beauty, Victoria, just a week after the National Championships. In the last 3 rounds that I was able to get to I came first, first and third to take out the title of 2008 Australian MTB Downhill National Series Champion. |
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Australian
National Downhill Championships 2008 ( Jan 27 2008) The 2008 Australain National Downhill Championships were held on Mt Stromlo outside the Australain capital of Canberra in the Australain National Territory. I had to drive, by myself, the 13 1/2 hours to get to the Race, stopping only at my Dad's in Sydney on the way. I only had room for my signature Santa Cruz V10 from the last World Cup season. The course will be the venue for a round of the UCI World Doenhill Cup this year and will host the UCI World Downhill Championship in 2009. The weather was hot and dusty with afternoon thunderstorms each day which made racing difficult. As usual I took things easy in the seeding runs where I came second but in the Final I was able to open up and pedal hard on the lower section for my second Australian Championship title. 2008 Australian Downhill MTB National Champion. |
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UCI
World Cup Downhill #5, Maribor, Slovenia. Sept 12-16 2007 So the season ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. I carried a number of injuries into this race. My shoulder had to be heavily strapped to stop it from popping out again as it is completely stuffed. I also crashed heavily on my left knee at Fort William and that is going to take some time to mend. In the final I was 10 seconds down on the winner which put me in 25th place. What a season. It started with two races in thunderstorms. Practice for most races was in freezing rain and mud. Through it all, all I could count on was the bike and my team. All thanks to Team Manager Kathy Sessler who has done a sensational job. Thanks to Mike Redding who has done all the behind the scenes work. Thanks to all my SPONSORS, they are the "best tools for the job". My bike got a nice paint job in the end but it was still the reliable Santa Cruz V10 it has always been. See you at Interbike in Las Vegas, then home for a rest. |
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UCI
World Downhill Championships. Fort William, Scotland. 5-9 September 2007 Well - I tried! My World Championships campaign started with practice on this course back in June when I competed with fellow Santa Cruz rider Steve Peat in the Scottish Downhill event. I walked the course and rode the course more than than two dozen times during the week leading up to this big race. I pedalled and jumped and slipped and busted berms until I was dog tired. On the Saturday I took a tumble and dislocated my shoulder again but I popped it back in straight away so there was no big deal. The new bike with it's World Cup paint job was dialled to perfection. The SRAM drivetrain was never in question in the mud and the grit of the course and the Rock Shox suspension was soaking up the waterbars and making it much easier. In the qualifiers I gave it a good effort without going too full on and put myself in 6th place with "more in the Tank". In the Final I was full on and doing well until coming out of a left and a right, I slipped, and went over the handlebars. I just sat there stunned for a while until I bolted back and got back on the bike. In the end I crossed the line 11.18 seconds behind the winner in 12th place. How many seconds had that crash cost me? Certainly it cost me a podium spot, but that's racing. More pics on the NEWS page here. |
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Crankworx
"Big Air" Downhill. Whistler, B.C. Canada 21-29 July Crankworx is a week long celebration of the bike in Whistler Bike Park. It would be hard to go in every event so I concentrated this year on the "Big Air" Downhill event. After hanging out with Brian Lopes all week, he had the hide to beat me by 0.7 of a second in the Final. I also had lots of fun in the four cross; being taken out by kamikasi riders and rolling tires off in the berms. Another highlight was working with Santa Cruz Bicycles sponsored blind rider Bobby McMullin who took to the course by following the sound of another rider. More pictures on the news page here |
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 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
UCI
World Cup Downhill #4 Schladming, Austria (5-8 July) Flew back to Europe from Canada for this race and thankfully the weather was good. The course was pretty short but rutted up due to recent rains. Steve and I did lots of practice runs and in the Qualifier I managed 8th with more in the tank. In the Final I stepped it to run 5 seconds faster but still came 8th as everybody else stepped it up too. Back to Canada after this for the Crankworks Festival in Whistler and then a break before the World Championships in Fort William in September. I need a few good results to pull up from the 11th place in the series so far. See you at the races. |
 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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UCI
World Cup Downhill #3, Mte Ste Anne, Quebec, Canada. (June 21-24) This was my 10th visit to Mte Ste Anne. The first time I was here, I placed 3rd in Junior at the World Championsips at the age of 17. Thankfully the weather was good so we all had a "level playing field" to compete against each other. The course had also been opened up this year so that there were more long flowing lines which suits my style of riding. Steve Peat and I had the fastest times in practice. In qualifying I had a cruising run to come 7th. In the final, everybody stepped up the pace and I placed 6th. Not a bad run considering the high level of competition at the moment. It seems that there aremany top riders who, on the day, could have fortune shine upon them to win a race, but we are all so much on the edge that no one rider can dominate. It is a percentage game. A highlight of the event was the Rock Shox anniversary and there was plenty of Rock Shox products sporting the original bright red colours. This result has pulled me up from 26th to 11th. Hopefully we will get another "level playing field" in Schladming, Austria, next month. |
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Scottish
Downhill #3, Fort William Scotland. (June 15-17) The Santa Cruz Syndicate rules again! First and Second. Steve Peat and I went up to Ben Nevis at Fort William in Scotland to try out the World Championship course for this year. The event was a round of the Scottish Downhill Series and featured a new top section of around 30 seconds for a total race time of around 5 minutes top to bottom down the highest peak in the U.K. Everybody had two runs with the best timed run being taken into account. Over the 5 minute race, Steve beat me by 0.046 of a second. Yes, my shoulder is getting better after the tree crash in the AE Forest. See you in Mte Ste Anne, Canada next week. |
 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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UCI
World Cup Downhill #2, Champery, Switzerland. (June 7-10) This was a monster of a track with many vertical sections that were hard to control and slippery mud from the rain every afternoon. In my qualifying run I had a crash and it was hard to get up on the bike because of the mud and the slope so I did not do so well. In the final I rode well between crashes but again I was beaten by the rain in my race run and ended up well down the field like so many other good riders. |
 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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| NPS #2 Ae Forest, Scotland. (25-27 May) Not much to report here except I was going very fast and a tree jumped into my line on the track and put me flat on my back. I tore the ligaments in my left shoulder and badly bruised the muscles. This puts me out of the Wheels of Speed race in Willengen, Germany next weekend. |
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 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
Red Bull "Lisbon
Downtown", Lisbon, Portugal. (20 May) Santa Cruz Bicycles 1st & 2nd. Steve Peat won his 6th Red Bull Lisbon Downtown and I managed to beat an international field to come second which is my best Downtown result to date. This downhill race is an urban assault challenge held in the streets and lanes of Lisbon with stairs, porches and ramps part of the track. Practice, qualifying and racing is all on one day. In practice I had 3 crashes. I came 3rd in qualifying. In the race I came 2nd. A very pleasing result result for me and for Santa Cruz and all our SPONSORS. Check out more of this unique race at the RED BULL Website in future. More pics on my NEWS page here. |
 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
UCI
World Cup Downhill #1. Vigo, Spain. (10-13 May) The rain in Spain fell mainly ..... on my race. I was really pleased with the long flowing course in Vigo. It some tricky bits but allowed for lots of different lines to be taken. In the days before the race I was getting my runs dialled with some good speed. On the Saturday I didn't qualify as well as I would have liked (12th) but then there was less than 5 seconds covering the top 15 riders - one small mistake was costly. On race day, the weather was dodgy and my mechanic came up the course to make the final tire choice. We swapped from dry tires to wet and back again. The rain came down, it hailed and then it started to clear but the water was gushing down the course. I slipped in a corner, dropped my speed and when I went to accerate on a wooden bridge, I skidded again and dropped into a water crossing. When the slowest qualifier ends up winning it is not a level playing field, but that's racing. I came 26th, and I was not very happy. More pics in NEWS |
 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
(U.S.)
National Mountain Bike Series. Fontana, CA. USA. (3-6 May 2007) Fontana is a suburb of East Los Angeles. The race was held on a sand hill with rocks overlooking the tract housing of the 'burbs. It was all rocks and sand and wind and pedalling. I practiced for three days before the race and just got pretty tired and breathless. The rocks crumbled, the sand bogged, but at least the Kenda Tires took it all in their stride. In the end I was beaten by a local Californian who had more in the tank over the long straight pedal to the finish. Second place but lots of practice for the real task ahead. This was the first race of ten straight weekends of racing in seven countries, and nothing will be as easy as this. You will notice I have changed my "Santa Suit" red jersey for a mean black and white TROY LEE number this season. More pictures showing the conditions, and the suburbs below, on my NEWS page here. |
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 Photo: Kathy Sessler |
Sea
Otter Classic. Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA., USA. (12-15 April 2007) |
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Australian
Open/Oceania Championship. ( 22-25 March 2007) This was a first for promoter Colin Battersby of Dirt/RawNRG, combining the Oceania Championships with the inaugural"Australian Open"at Thredbo (a skiing village below Australia's highest mountain). The four day event included serious Four Cross and Downhill racing with fun events like wheelie comps. I had been in Thredbo for a week doing a downhill clinic with Jared Rando and 21 young up and coming riders, before the event. The main event was billed as the "Oceania Heavyweight Downhill Championship - Sam Hill vs Nathan Rennie". On the day of the race it was wet and freezing (wind chill factor -12 Celsius below freezing). The qualifying runs were cancelled by mutual consent. The downhill was down 600 meters (1970 ft) over 4 km (2.5 Miles) in about 6 minutes. Sam completed the course in 374.39 seconds to win. I did 376.78 seconds to come second. A good time was had by all. Look out world - here we come! |
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 Photo: Bruiser |
Australian National Championships,
Mt. Stromlo, Canberra, Australia. Jan 27-28 2007 |
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FiveTen Shoes -
Rennie says "Get the right tools for the job" |
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Some
of my 2006 print image promotions. (Click to Enlarge) |
 Troy Lee Designs in DIRT Magazine |
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His and Hers Photos 2006 UCI World Championships Rotorua, NZ <---Photo: Olly Hagen
Photo: Kathy Sessler --->
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