Crocodile Trophy
Women's Race Gets More Competitive
News Release / 17.09.2008
Sunshine Coast cyclist Naomi Hansen, one of the rapidly emerging talents of Australian women’s mountainbiking, has signed on for the greatest challenge of her career - to race the 2008 Croco-dile Trophy. Hansen, who last month proved her endurance quality by winning the prestigious Flight Centre Classic at Peppers Hiddenvale near Brisbane, will attempt to find new limits to her staying power, by taking on what’s widely regarded as the longest, hottest and hardest mountainbike race on the planet.
Backed by the team at Noosa bikeshop Le Cyclosportif, Hansen will leave behind the cafe society of Noosa’s internationally famous Hastings Street, to confront the dusty corrugated roads and blistering heat of outback Tropical North Queensland in one of the biggest challenges of her life.
“I do have commitment issues (all of my jobs are now casual) so it has taken several weeks to commit to the hardest mtb race in Australia,� an enthusiastic Hansen said. “But now I am in and there is no turning back.�
“With just over a month to go I am pumped and a little, maybe a lot, scared!�
Hansen’s journey just to reach the Crocodile Trophy has been a story of true inspiration. The Noosa veterinarian took up mountainbiking after re-covering from a serious brain trauma injury, suffered while road cycling in the United States in 2003.
Last month, Hansen finished second behind World 24 Hour solo mountainbike champion Craig Gordon (Rock Star Racing) in a nation-wide competition to gain a wild-card entry to the great Out-back Classic. But last-minute negotiations with Crocodile Trophy supremo Gerhard Schoenbacher proved fruitful.
The road ahead now for Hansen will include 1300 kilometres and ten stages, from the rural country of the Atherton Tableland, via the rugged outback of lower Cape York, to the final destination on the rainforest fringed beach at Cape Tribulation.
“The Croc is the kinda race that will take you to places no training ride or race could ever ever take you,� Hansen said.
“Your mental/physical response is yours only and no-one can help you out there.�
The “Hansen� brand might just be an omen for the Sunshine Coast biker. It was another Queen-slander, Cairns cyclist Adam Hansen (Team Columbia), who launched his international career by twice winning the Crocodile Trophy in 2004 and 2005. Hansen is now the event’s European ambassador and was one of two Trophy graduates (the other Quickstep’s Jurgen Vandewalle) to make their Tour de France debut in 2008.
With 2007 Crocodile Trophy women’s champion, Italy’s Michela Benzoni, promising to “never ever� return to the brutality of the Australian bush, Belgian Karen Steurs (Team CKC) and Western Austra-lia’s Jo Bennett (Merida Flight Centre) will be Naomi Hansen’s main rivals for the overall women’s classification.
“It’s great to see we will have some of Australia’s leading female mountainbikers taking on the Crocodile Trophy,� Race Supremo Gerhard Schoenbacher noted. “In fact the overall Australian presence at the race in 2008 is quite impressive.�
Cyclists from 14 nations have now signed on for the 2008 Crocodile Trophy including Australia, Ger-many, The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Italy, Austria, The United States, Spain, The Czech Rupublic, Great Britain, Denmark, and Switzerland.See All Event Posts
