After a day for the sprinters yesterday, Australia's leading distance cross country skiers had a chance to show their form today at Perisher Valley in the 10km and 15km events of the 2005 Australian Championships. Clare-Louise Brumley from Templestowe easily won the Women's 10km Freestyle, while Ben Derrick from Falls Creek had to fight back in the closing stages of the Men's 15km Freestyle to claim victory by just 12 seconds ahead of Ben Sim from Cooma.

Brumley, who has moved to Mt Beauty this winter to train at Falls Creek, was the clear favourite in today's race given that her main distance rival KT Calder from Canberra is out of action due to a shoulder injury. Brumley started second last in the interval start format and skied through almost the entire field on her way to adding the 10km title to the 15km title that she won two weeks ago. The only skier who could match her pace for even a short distance was Australian Sprint Champion Esther Bottomley from Mt Beauty, who skied one of her best ever distance events to take second place. Third place went to Belinda Phillips from Falls Creek.

The men's 15km was one of the most exciting in recent years, featuring many mini-battles for the top places. Sim took the early lead from Derrick, but lost it after dropping his pole towards the end of the first 5km lap. The lead swapped back and forth several times until the endurance and experience of 32-year-old Derrick came to the fore in the closing stages, and he reclaimed the lead and extended it out to 12 seconds at the finish.
Mark Raymond from Team Lake Mountain and Chris Darlington from Jindabyne were also neck and neck mid way through the race, with Raymond finishing the stronger to take third place just 6 seconds ahead of Darlington. Places
5-8 were separated by just 8 seconds.

While the NSW Cross Country Race Week continues on now with events almost every day concluding with the Snowy Mountains Classic next Saturday, several of the Australia's top skiers will head across the Tasman for the second round of the Australia / New Zealand Cup, at the Snowfarm near Queenstown next weekend.

Contact: Finn Marsland 0408 147 940

SPORTS RESULTS
Cross Country Skiing
Australian Championships
August 7, 2005
Perisher Valley, Victoria

Women 10km Freestyle
1 31:15.1 Clare-Louise Brumley VIC
2 33:10.5 Esther Bottomley VIC
3 34:22.7 Belinda Phillips VIC
4 34:32.9 Camille Melvey NSW
5 35:59.9 Jane Scheer NSW

Men 15km Freestyle
1 41:13.0 Ben Derrick VIC
2 41:25.4 Ben Sim NSW
3 43:15.1 Mark Raymond VIC
4 43:21.2 Chris Darlington NSW
5 44:10.0 Andrew Mock VIC

Full results will be available on the Australian Cross Country Skiing
Website: www.hoppet.com.au/xc
Contact Information: Finn Marsland 0408 147940