Crocodile Trophy

Crocodile Trophy

2011 Crocodile Trophy
Race details
Date	October
Region	North Queensland, Australia
Discipline	Mountain bike racing
Type	Stage race
Organiser	Gerhard Schönbacher
Race director	Gerhard Schönbacher
History
First edition	1995 (1995)
Editions	17 (as of 2011)
First winner	Harald Maier (AUT)
Most wins	4 wins  Jaap Viergever (NED)
Most recent	Jeroen Boelen (NED)

The Crocodile Trophy is an annual mountain bike ten day stage race held in North Queensland, Australia. The race typically covers around the 1,200 kilometres (746 mi) over 10 stages and is known to be one of the most demanding mountain bike race in the world. The race is marked for the heat and the rough terrain of the Australian Outback. It claims to be 'the hardest, longest and most adventurous MTB race in the world'.

History

The race was orginally intended to take place in Vietnam. The event would last 18 days, starting in Saigon and finishing in Hanoi. But after spending two weeks in Vietnam race organisers Gerhard Schönbacher realized it was not possible to organise the event in Vietnam. Later on he found an alternative in Darwin and decided that the first route of the Crocodile Trophy would run from Darwin to Cairns.^[1] The race's route would change every year.

Classifications

The Crocodile Trophy's leaders jersey is awarded after each stage to the rider with the lowest overall time. The rider who has the lowest overall time will wear the jersey at the next stage. The cyclist who is awarded the jersey after the final stage is the overall winner of the race.

The first five riders to cross the finish line at each stage will score points that count toward the Points classification (20, 15, 10, 5 and 2 points in chronological order). The first three riders to cross the line are also awarded bonification seconds (15, 10, and 52 seconds in chronological order) which will count toward the overall classifcation. The rider who holds the most points will wear a special jersey.

A team classification is assessed by adding the time of each team's best three riders each day. The competition does not have its own jersey. ^[2]

Winners

Year[3]	Winner Male	Winner Female
1995	Harald Maier (AUT)	Meg Carrigan (AUS)
1996	Harald Maier (AUT)	Brigitte Kurka (AUT)
1997	Jaap Viergever (NED)	Regina Stanger (AUT)
1998	Harald Maier (AUT)	no entries
1999	Jaap Viergever (NED)	no entries
2000	Simon Apperloo (NED)	Carrie Edwards (USA)
2001	Jaap Viergever (NED)	Mieke Deroo (BEL)
2002	Jaap Viergever (NED)	Mieke Deroo (BEL)
2003	Roland Stauder (ITA)	Rosi King (AUS)
2004	Adam Hansen (AUS)	Anita Waiss (AUT)
2005	Adam Hansen (AUS)	Kim Proctor (AUS)
2006	Christoph Stevens (BEL)	Dominique Angerer (AUT)
2007	Mauro Bettin (ITA)	Michela Benzoni (ITA)
2008	Ondrej Fojtik (CZE)	Karen Steurs (BEL)
2009	Urs Huber (SUI) [4]	Monique Zeldenrust (NED)
2010	Urs Huber (SUI)	Abby McLennan (AUS)
2011	Jeroen Boelen (NED)	Jessica Douglas (AUS)

Winners by Nationality

# of Victories	Country
6	Netherlands
3	Austria
2	Switzerland
	Australia
	Italy
1	Czech Republic
	Belgium

References

1. ^ the story of the Crocodile Trophy
2. ^ reglement & categories
3. ^ Cycling News, Crocodile Trophy Past Winners
4. ^ [1]

External links

• Official Site