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Fun lovin' animal: The Paul Rowney Diary
The triple Australian XC champion from Penshurst, New South Wales, is a veteran of both the NORBA and World Cup circuit. Despite a bad training crash in early August that left him with a broken hand, Rowney soldiered on at the final NORBA round in Durango, finishing third overall in the short track cross-country series.
At 32 years of age, Rowney is now at the peak of his abilities, which should bode him well for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. A typically ocker Aussie, Rowney's diaries are sure to be a laugh, so stay tuned as the Sydneysider embarks on his quest for national championship and Olympic glory.
NORBA Series #5 - Durango, CO, USA, August 16-17, 2003
August 19, 2003: Doin' the fandango at Durango
Hey sports fans, well it's that time of year again, NORBA finals. This time around, instead of the usual Mt. Snow, Vermont, they switched it to Durango, the home of the very first official World Championships way back in 1990.
Anyway enough history, the story so far is that I have been crashing more than Windows XP, my hand is still sore and broken, but I will try and hold onto my third overall in the short track. Smart move at the time - until I had a look at the course; they did have to put a good four step, four pad landing in the thing. Nice.
Cross-country: OK now, I said I was flicking the race. Well I was a little nervous today, as my role was bottle boy; I was looking after the Sobe gals. Thank god the race was two laps and that meant one bottle change. Life down in the feed can be pretty mundane, so after some green tea I was a little wired and got the party started. Highlight of the race, well I would get to sing a little Mary Grigson ditty in honour of her final race. Yes, she is hangin' it up. Norba champ, World Cup winner, Olympian, National champ and a bloody good chick. She will be missed.
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STXC: After a night of solid rain, things were looking pretty ordinary; heavy rain and cold had set in, my hand was hurtin like a barstard with the bad weather, so we were lucky come lunch time the rain had eased. Maxiboy the Haro swannie [swannie=soigneur-Ed] had given my hand the rooster wrap, I borrowed Cedric G's downhill brace and I was happy days.
In the warm-up, the stairs that were in the course were a bother, and another ramp we had to ride was also taxing. They say when the flag drops the bullshit stops; well a lot can said for that. Seamo [McGrath] went out of the holes to open a gap; he needed to win and JHKobelski needed to finish out of the top 3, so an interesting finale was in place. I was riding like a haemorrhoid, just dangling out the back...
The action was all go up front. But the end of 20 mins, I was spent and went from 7th all the way back to 12th... Last lap and Seamo took the win with mafia staff member Ryder getting second. JHK was making a do or die move for third and decked it in the last corner and Seamo took the title. Incredible racing! I was glad to finish and happy to score points to finish 3rd overall in the series. So all in all, not a bad day considering.
So long; that about wraps it up for the 2003 NORBA season. For me, I'm homebound, as I write this in Singapore I have just flown from Durango-Denver-Frankfurt-Singapore and I have another seven hours to Sydney. About 30 hours of flying.
My reason for skipping World's is a realistic one, I have been laid up, scraped off the ground and flung over embankments in the last six weeks, my training has been inconsistent due to the injuries I have endured and my form is pretty ordinary. Going to the Worlds and not racing 100% is not really worth it. Time to go home recover and see if we can bring back a national title come October.
Till then, and thanks for reading.
Cheers, pr.
PS. A big thanks to my boys at Sobe, Adrian and Matt, all my co-sponsors and all those people that had to put up with my shit talkin' all year. You will be missed.