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Downhill World Championships South Africa

Oct 20, 2009
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<p>Specialized Factory DH rider Troy Brosnan (AUS) rode to a 10th place finish this past weekend at the 2013 MTB Downhill World Championships in Pietermatritzburg, South Africa. The young Australian left it all on the track and sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him over the</p><p>
notoriously flat 40 second sprint and 1.87 miles of track here in SA.</p><p>
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Brosnan was thoroughly spent at the bottom of the hill here in South Africa. "My run was sick, I couldn't ask for much more. The top section was dialled and I just pedalled as hard as I could. I was fairly tired at the bottom but lost a few seconds. All in all I'm stoked on 10th!"</p><p>
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Teammate Mitch Ropelato set the second fastest time of the week in the mandatory timed training session and his hopes were high that he and his Enduro 29er would be in contention for a podium spot, but it wasn't to be. The loose dust reached and out grabbed the American in the first corner and had him face down in the dirt faster than he could react.</p><p>
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"Things went good. I had a little accident in the first corner and it kinda ruined the whole run. Besides that my run was sick I was way pumped on my second place timed run earlier in the week. It would have been way cooler to have it in my race run, nut that's just how it goes sometimes. I just have to move on to next week in Norway and keep this pace up."</p><p>
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A perennial favorite here and past winner, Aaron Gwin, was the victim of a crash mid course when he drifted wide in a corner and slammed his shoulder into a tree. Gwin is heading home this week to have it looked at, and is hopeful to make the last two World Cup rounds of the season in Norway and Austria.</p><p>
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"My weekend was less than desirable. It was a good weekend but I just had some more bad luck. I flatted in timed training and had a really good run going today and just hit a tree, again. It's a bit of a bummer but that's racing. You never know. I just have to keep working and</p><p>
it'll come around. Ill just go home and get my shoulder checked out, hopefully it's not too bad. I'll be back sooner than later.</p><p>
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Ropelato and Brosnan now head to Europe for a week of riding and relaxation and will then rejoin the rest of the team in Hafjell, Norway for the next round of the World Cup.</p>

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