Downhill suits Albany riders

Albany riders figured prominently in the opening round of the WA State Downhill Series at their home track on Mt Clarence last weekend, taking out four of the 10 categories on offer.

In the expert category, 18-year-old Ben Halsall produced a brilliant run to take out his respective division ahead of fellow locals Nathan Symonds and Jayde Sleep.

Halsall set his quickest time of 1min.19.072secs in his run down the Mt Clarence circuit to defeat Symonds (1:20.828) and Sleep (1:21.205) while Albany’s Isaac Marwick finished fifth in a time of 1:23.923.

Albany’s Travis Fage also enjoyed a successful weekend after winning the under-19 category by more than four seconds from Sam Joyce and Albany’s Sam Beck.

Fage set a sizzling time of 1:23.021 while Beck managed a time of 1:27.390 to narrowly miss out on second spot.

Paul Fage also claimed victory in the masters’ division with a time of 1:31.091 to hold out Ellis Moore by more than three seconds.

Kristie Lanigan, the sole competitor in the elite women category, finished with a time of 1:36.970 to round out the four local category winners across the two-day competition.

Perth’s Luke Ball was victorious in the elite men category in a time of 1:16.583 to finish ahead of Deon Baker (1:17.868) and Sam Payet (1:17.945), while Albany’s Remie Denehy (1:21.565) finished a creditable sixth overall.

Other winners from the weekend included Daniel Sprague (veterans), Reece Colgan (sport), Hamish Hall (under-17), Aaron Leagas (under-15) and Jake De Klerk (under-13).

Peel Districts Mountain Biking Club president Paul De Klerk labelled the event a huge success.

“In general the weekend went really well,” he said.

“We had a good turnout, 82 riders in total, ranging from as young as 10 to late 40s.”

“Overall it was a great event and Albany did well in the podiums.”