The 2026 AusCycling Gravel National Championships return to Mt Crawford in South Australia this weekend as part of the Ponderosa Pines Gravel Race for the second consecutive year.
New to this year, there will be two full days of racing action with women racing on Saturday and the men going into battle on Sunday.
The elite women’s course has also been extended to the same distance as the men, covering 123km.
The courses at a glance
This course is 100 per cent pure gravel surface, no bitumen at all.
The elite men and women will both race 123km. This will include one lap of the 17.5km Western Loop and two full laps of main course (see the course maps here.)
There is about 1,600m of elevation gain consisting of a number of nasty pinches which will sting riders' legs.
The longest climb is High Noon at 2km and 100m of elevation gain, but the nastiest sector is Tombstone Hill which reaches about a 20% gradient on difficult terrain.
See the video below for some of the key make-or-break sections.
Who is racing?
Defending champions Tiffany Cromwell and Mark O’Brien will both be on the start line.
Cromwell will carry confidence into the weekend after winning this year's SEVEN gravel race, where O'Brien finished second.
Olympic track cyclist Sophie Edwards is also on the start list and was in excellent form earlier in the year, winning a number of races in the ProVelo Super League including the Warrnambool Women’s Classic.
Last year's runner-up in the elite men, Cameron Scott, returns in a hope to go one better and will be hard to beat if it comes down to a sprint finish.
Tasman Nankervis, Brent Rees and Kane Richards will also be ones to watch.
What they said
Defending champion Tiffany Cromwell said:
"I’m motivated to try and defend my title as I’ve enjoyed my year in the green and gold representing the colours around the world on the gravel circuit.
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"It’s great to see the event take on the feedback from last year and create a bigger and better event this year over two days.
"It’s nice that the elite women’s race is a longer race too on our own day separate from the men’s races. It should be a fun battle out there.
It’s a draining course and that extra 17km, although it doesn’t sound like a lot, it will be an extra 45mins of racing and I think it’s going to make for a bit more of a race of attrition and a heavy sprint up the little climb to the finish."
Defending champion Mark O’Brien said:
"It has been a huge honour carrying the title for the past year. I’m always incredibly proud whenever I get to wear the jersey.
"I honestly thought I wouldn’t win another national title after my 2003 under-17 road title, so winning last year as a 37-year-old was a nice surprise.
I know I’m going well enough physically to defend this Sunday, but I’ve learnt thousands of times over that being one of the strongest provides no guarantees of a high result with my horrific sprint finish.
"I’m looking forward to giving it a crack and will be happy with whatever result comes, as long as I do my best and have good mechanical luck."
Where to find results
See the full startlist and results here.