In this edition of our coverage from the Cannonball Festival we focus on Friday’s events…
Friday at Thredbo was all about the Flow racing for Group B competitors, Downhill Qualification for the Pro & U19 categories, and the spectacle of the Pump Track race in the evening. The pump track battle is always a good one for spectators.
The rest of the festival has seen good weather and today was no exception, blue skies and warm weather. More competitors are arriving as well as the day rolls in, with a couple of ex-Syndicate world cup champion Nathan Rennie spottings in the chairlift line, fresh from his efforts on the Salt2Snow charity ride.



Downhill Qualification
In the late afternoon the Pro Men & Women and U19 Men & Women all lined up for downhill qualification/seeding. A fast run down the infamous Thredbo fire road into the Cannonball Downhill. Was Three-peat winner Troy Brosnan in for a surprise with all the international racers in town?










In the end, Troy Brosnan’s dominance of the downhill repeated itself, qualifying in first spot with a 5:15. Loris Vergier will be one to watch in the final though, coming in only 1.5 seconds behind, followed by Canberra shredder Tom Crimmins.
Over in the Pro Women’s, Tracey Hannah qualified first followed closely by Tegan Molloy in 2nd seed and Sian A’Hern in 3rd.
With the action from qualification wrapped up, the focus moved over to the Village Green for pump-track…
Pump Track












Jackson Davis found the limits of the course, crashing spectacularly (He’s OK)






In the Pro Men’s, it was definitely a battle between Kyle Strait, Duke Millington and David Mcmillan, all three showing loads of speed around the tight track. In the end, Duke took the wins however a disqualification ruling pushed him down into 2nd place, behind David Mcmillan with US rider Kyle Strait in 3rd.
Pro Women’s was dominated by Danni Beecroft, the pumptrack specialist taking the win ahead of Sian A’Hern and Tegan Molloy, after BMX and MTB rider Harriet Burbridge-Smith was DQ’ed from her 3rd place position.
Stay tuned as we cover the final 2 day’s events – the A-Group Flow, Whip Wars today and Australian Open Downhill on Sunday!
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Photos: Simon Noble – Flow & Downhill // Matt Rousu – Pumptrack