English and Douglas win WEMBO 24-hour solo titles

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Australia riders Jason English and Jessica Douglas became the first WEMBO 24-hour solo mountain bike racing world champions in the toughest single-day mountain bike race in the world. 136 riders from 15 nations gathered at Finale Ligure, Italy to decide who was the best of the best.

The Finale Ligure course is well known by Europe's 24-hour riders, having hosted events for over a decade, but it was the first time English and Douglas had ridden on Italian soil. The Ligurian coast provided a spectacular setting for the race, with many international riders staying after the race to enjoy the area.

In the men's race, Australian champion English completed 22 laps of the challenging course to take the win, while Douglas tackled Rickie Cotter (United Kingdom) to take the women's title.

In early running, Thomas Widhalm (Austria) lead the field with English a bike length behind for the first five and a half hours, but after losing time to a mechanical just before sunset, Widhalm's misery was compounded by a stomach complaint which eventually took him out of the race. But English had begun to mark his dominance before that. While Widhalm was dealing with his mechanical, English put in two blistering laps to pull out a sizeable lead going into the night. By the time racing finished at 13:00 on Sunday, he had completed 22 laps of the 17.16km course - just under 380km in 24 hours. Through the night England's Jason Miles put in a heroic performance to rise through the field to take second place. A consistent ride from fellow countryman Craig Bowles was good enough for the third step of the podium.

With the women, it was a closer race and in early running Cotter pushed Douglas hard as they drew away from the field. The two leaders split at the nine-hour mark and as the night wore on, Douglas extended her lead little by little. By the morning her lead had grown to about 50 minutes and Cotter couldn't close in. Megan Dimozantos (New Zealand) completed the elite women's podium.

The 2013 WEMBO 24-hour solo world championships will take place in Canberra, Australia in October and then return to the northern hemisphere to Fort William in Scotland in October 2014.

The following video is filmed and edited by RITM - Rock In The Middle. Music is by Survival - Moon Furies and We singing - Frank Sent Us.

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