The hosts of the 2005 MTBA National Championships to be staged in Eildon from 17 - 20th March have announced the dedicated website is now live.

Check out: http://www.mtbnats.com.au

Entry is available on-line through this website. Accommodation details are also available as well as the many extra things you can do in this very diverse area.

Discussions with Cycling Australia have revealed more details about the Oceania Championships to be hosted at Mt. Buller on 2-3 April 2005.

1. Nominations will be called for in early to mid February. Self nomination will apply.
2. Nominations are open to Junior (U19) and Elite aged athletes.
3. Once nominations are closed, the names will be sent to the Australian MTB selectors for confirmation by early March.
4. There is essentially no limitation to the Australian team size.
5. The nomination fee is unknown at this time.
6. The preliminary schedule is, Saturday 2nd April: XC, Sunday 3rd April: DH

The third round of the national DH series was a huge success with 220 riders contesting a track which, while achieveable, was still a great test of skill and strength.

The course consisted of a pedally top section including a huge road jump and small double which led into the most technical section of the course. This section included a steep rock slope of weathered sandstone with several steps, tight turns and, by race day full of braking stutters. This section was a spectators paradise. The final section was a very fast firm, almost cement surface like track with fast sweeping corners and on which riders were travelling at warp speed towards the finish.

The track as a whole certainly made the riders work!

At the end of a hard day's racing the fastest run of the day belonged to Nathan Rennie at 2m58.18s. Full results are available in the results page on the MTBA website.

Information about the Tour de Dirt in Canberra is available as a downloadable form in the MTBA calendar section and entry is available on-line at http://www.corc.asn.au.

This event always attracts the best riders in Australia and comprises a short course XC, long loop point to point (about 50km for Elite Men) on Saturday and a fast and furious XC on Sunday.

The entry form for Lithgow (DH#3) is available in the calendar pages of the MTBA website and additional information is also available at http://www.ctmbc.net/Pages/Temps/natdh.html. This venue has been very well received and don't forget the Black Phoenix DVD screening on Saturday night at the Lithgow Workmens Club.

Cycling Central on SBS are running a poll on female cyclists in which Lisa Mathison is the lone female MTB athlete.

Log onto http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral and choosing the voting poll link on the left hand side to vote. We hope you will vote for Lisa - and often!

As an aside, the extend that Lisa is supported may show the following behind MTB in Australia and also that a lot of MTB riders also enjoy what SBS is doing in presenting shows like Cycling Central and covering cycling in general.

To all MTBA members, supporters and friends, I and all the MTBA executive wish you a very and most joyous Christmas. If you are at home with friends and family; enjoy. If you are driving somewhere, remember to drive safely and rest often.

We take the opportunity to also wish you all the best for 2005 in all your adventures in life and mountain biking.

Tony Scott, Gillian Duncan, Bruce Dickey, Vanessa Medder and Peter Gaull

The venues and dates for the 2005 Mountain Bike Oceania Championships have been confirmed.

Both XC and DH competitions will be staged at Mt. Buller, about 3 hours north of Melbourne in the beautiful Victorian snowfield resort area.

The Cross Country will be held on Saturday April 2nd while the Down Hill will be held on Sunday April 3rd.

The UCI have enforced the ruling after the 2004 event, that those competing at the Oceania Games have to be Nationally selected riders in a National Team.

The numbers and makeup of the Australian national team will be determined early in 2005.

More details will be announced as they come to hand.

From Ted Jones, Marketing and Events Manager for BikeNZ and responsible for the NZ MTB National Series.

Of particular interest to Australian riders are those races on the UCI calendar that are eligible for UCI points. These are Dunedin, Auckland, Rotorua and Colville.

The full Series schedule is:

The 2004 part of the 2004-2005 national MTB season concluded with an awesome 330 riders at Thredbo. The national season is now half over and it is time to reflect on how all the participants have performed. The latest rankings are available at https://www.mtba.org.au/results/menu.asp and click through to National XC or DH pages.

Here are the answers to two commonly asked questions about the ranks.

Q. Why aren't all of my race results appearing?

A. There are a few possible reasons for this:
• Check through the rankings and check for your name being spelt incorrectly.
• Check the results of the missing race to make sure that you are recorded as a finisher.
• Check the class entered and make sure that all of your ranks are in the same class.

If any of these are the reason for your result not being ranked please contact MTBA.
If you can’t find your result rank and feel that you should be ranked at a particular event please contact MTBA.
Please note that MTBA will not transfer ranking points from one class to another.

Q. How are the rankings calculated?

A. Please read the MTBA members handbook that gives the rankings technical table. Each place in a race is awarded points and the points are accumulated over the entire series. All races count.