The end of the year always provides us with the opportunity to lookback over the past season and choose those people and events that standout in our own minds. What follows is more of what we, as editors of VeloNews,saw as the highlights of the mountain-bike scene in 2006. See if you agreeand take the time to read our complete 2006 awards in the latest issueof VeloNews.

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DOWNHILL POWER COUPLE
He won the NMBS downhill title, grabbed two rounds of the UCI WorldCup and finished second in the overall series. She barely finished secondin the NMBS and World Cup overall rankings, despite winning two NMBS andWorld Cup races.But teammates Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier (Monster-IronHorse) saved their best performances of 2006 for when the biggest prizewas on the line. At the 2006 world mountain-bike championships in Rotorua,New Zealand, the pair grabbed their first taste of rainbow stripes as eliteracers.The shy, soft-spoken Hill made history as the first Australian to grabthe elite world championship after years of near misses by his countrymen.With two-time champ Fabien Barel out with a broken foot, Hill won by aconvincing four seconds — a landslide.Long heralded as Australia’s downhill wunderkind, Hill ascended to hisrightful spot as Australia’s top rider this year, outperforming his heavy-hittingelders Nathan Rennie and Chris Kovarik. “It was bound to happen,” saidKovarik. “He’s a little magician, he’s so agile. He just does everythingright.”Jonnier’s win was equally as dramatic. The 25-year-old French downhillerspent much of her career sitting in the long shadow cast by Anne-CarolineChausson, the most dominant downhiller of all time. Jonnier stood in tearsafter Chausson squeaked by her to win the 2005 world title in Livigno,Italy — Chausson’s final race. With the door open to Chausson’s thronein 2006, Jonnier proved that she is the rightful successor.“It was hard for everybody to race with [Chausson] because she wouldjust win all of the races,” Jonnier said. “But now it is our turn.”For many in Rotorua, it came as a surprise to see Hill and Jonnier —usually shy together, but dating for three years — holding hands and exchangingkisses at the awards ceremony. But with their new rainbow medals and jerseysin-hand, the two deserved a little PDA time. “When I won, I was happy,but I wanted Sam to win too,” Jonnier said. “When he won, my heart neverbeat so hard before.”CHANGING THE GUARD
For half a decade, America’s best male cross-country racers coweredbeneath the wheels of the Canadian mountain-biking juggernauts Roland Green,Ryder Hesjedal and Geoff Kabush on the NORBA circuit. Things weren’t muchbetter in international competition, where American men got their doorsblown off by speedy Europeans.But in 2006 American male cross-country racers began to turn the tide.Subaru-Gary Fisher’s Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski led the charge, winning theNMBS cross-country title and finishing on the podium at the third WorldCup race in Fort William, Scotland, after briefly leading. The successspread — Adam Craig (Giant) scored top-10 World Cup finishes in Mont-Ste-Anne,Québec and Schladming, Austria. Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen)then scored America’s first top-10 finish at the world championships ina decade, placing eighth in New Zealand.Kabush, the Canadian, put it best: “I don’t feel like I’m going anyslower, it just seems like everyone has stepped up their level.”SURPRISE, WE’RE HERE
A few heads turned when China’s Ren Chenyuan scored a sixthplace at Mont-Ste-Anne’s World Cup cross-country race on June 25. But jawsdropped when Chenyuan and her Chinese national teammate Ying Liu gappedthe entire women’s field to finish 1-2 in the women’s under-23 world championshipin New Zealand, three minutes up on the next finisher. A poorly trainedinterpreter clumsily recounted Chenyuan’s explanations of her success,despite having never raced a World Cup or world championship event before2006. Many in the crowd seemed suspect, especially since the victoriescame days after the Liaoning Anshan Athletics School in Northeast China,a powerful feeder school for China’s Olympic team, was caught injectingits students with banned substances.Most of Chenyuan’s words were lost in translation, but one phrase rangloudly in everyone’s ear. “This is a new era for Chinese mountain biking,”she said. “We are preparing for the [Beijing] Olympics.”
 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
GRAVITY MAN: After breaking his leg in a horrendous crash atthe 2005 world championships, Czech sensation Michal Prokop reboundedto win the World Cup, world championship and Jeep King of the Mountainstitles with ease.GRAVITY WOMAN: Jill Kintner was nearly untouchable in four-crossraces, repeating as World Cup and world champion, She also won the JeepKing of the Mountains series.BEST JUNIOR: The younger sister of gravity god Mick Hannah, 17-year-oldTracyHannah, showed she is cut from the same cloth. She took the world juniortitle with ease, and also took the NMBS title in the U.S.MOST IMPROVED RIDERS: Brits Liam Killeen and TracyMoseley both hail from the same country town of Malvern, and both madeleaps and bounds in 2006. Killeen was on fire in the spring, winning theCommonwealth Games, the Sea Otter Classic and finishing second at the Mont-Ste-AnneWorld Cup. Moseley also had a career year, winning two World Cup roundson her way to securing the overall downhill title.BEST RIDE: At the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup, Marie-HélènePrémont stalked a surging Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesja through fourlaps, then pounced on the tiring Norwegian to take her second-straightwin on her hometown course.THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT AWARD
Don’t be surprised to see Switzerland take ownership of internationalcross-country racing in the coming decade. At the 2006 world championships,the boys and girls in red and white cleaned house in the junior and U23categories, taking two-thirds of the podium spots, not to mention halfthe race victories. With the strength of their junior and U23 riders, theSwiss also won the team relay.Heading up the Swiss charge is world U23 champ Nino Schürter, aregular top-10 finisher on the World Cup circuit. The 21-year-old is knownto occasionally give even Thomas Frischknecht, the patriarch of the Swissprogram, a run for his money.“Our team is a family,” says Frischknecht. “I am like the grandfatherof the group.”MOST EPIC BATTLE ON TWO WHEELS
Gordon versus Eatough might not carry the ring of such famousbattles as Ali versus Frazier or Godzilla versus Mothra. But the war betweenthe two endurance mountain-bike racers at this year’s 24-hours of Adrenalineworld solo championships was every bit as epic. Gordon, a 34-year-old Aussie,went blow-for-blow with six-time champ Eatough before dropping the Americanat nightfall.But in toppling the American, Gordon pushed his body farther than itwanted to go. The intensity of the race and the constant jarring of thebike dissolved Gordon’s muscle fibers and sent toxic levels of proteininto his blood stream. After being carried across the finish line for thewin, Gordon spent the next two days in a nearby hospital having his bloodscrubbed by a dialysis machine.Eatough admitted that his opponent had simply wanted the win more thananyone else. “I think it came down to who was willing to destroy themselvesthe farthest, and Craig was more willing,” Eatough said.SMILE, YOU’RE ON TV
For the last two years, Jeep’s King of the Mountain series founda way to reunite TV and mountain-bike racing. This year’s invite-only gravityevents in California, Michigan and Colorado reached the masses on CBS television.The Y-shaped slalom courses of the Jeep series highlight the high-speedskills of gravity racing’s finest athletes, and show off mountain biking’sooh and ahh factor. Gravity vet Brian Lopes, now 35, said it best. “Theseraces are great. They treat the athletes well, there’s great prize money,crowds and some prime-time coverage on CBS. What more could you ask for?”Perhaps a La-Z-boy and some chips.BACK FROM THE BRINK
When Bernadita Pizarro crashed and broke her femur on WhistlerMountain’s famed A-line trail on July 22, the 20-year-old Chilean downhillerknew her season was probably over. Unfortunately for Pizarro, who was atWhistler for the 2006 Crankworx festival, the injury soon became life threatening.While undergoing surgery the next day in Vancouver, Pizarro suffered anembolism in her lung and had to be put into a coma. She did not wake upfor three weeks.CONSUMMATE RUNNERS-UP
After finishing as the runner-up to Sam Hill at the 2006 worlddownhill championship, South African Greg Minnaar couldn’t help but commenton his year of near misses. “I think I’m going to have to build a trophycase to carry all of my second- and third-place medals,” Minnaar joked.In addition to his second at the world’s, Minnaar grabbed the No. 2spot at World Cup rounds in Fort William, Scotland and Mont-Ste-Anne, Québec.He also found the deuce in the NMBS downhill overall behind Hill.Minnaar’s cross-country counterpart was Swiss Christoph Sauser, whofound himself constantly thwarted by Frenchman Julien Absalon. A mechanicalderailed a nearly victorious Sauser in the European cross-country championships, won by Absalon. Key losses set him into second place in the World Cup final standings behind Absalon. And Absalon carried an ounce of additional energyup the final climb at the world championships, barely dropping Sauser forthe win. Maybe next year, Christoph.

DOMESTIC AWARDS
CROSS-COUNTRY MAN: Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski was untouchable onthe NMBS circuit, and was the first American to win the overall in fiveyears.CROSS-COUNTRY WOMAN: Mary McConneloug scaled back her NMBS campaignfor 2006, but still easily won at Mount Snow, then landed on the podiuma week later at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup. She finished eighth in theWorld Cup rankings.BEST RIDE: The lanky Kona rider Ryan Trebon dropped theentire men’s field on the opening lap of the cross-country national championshiprace in Sonoma, California, then held off a five-man chase group for twohours in the sun.GRAVITY MAN: After a decade of professional racing, Rich Housemanfinallytook the NMBS overall title, beating out Aussie Jared Rando at the finalsin Snowmass, Colorado.GRAVITY WOMAN: South African-born Joanna Petterson showedher consistency and wrapped up the NMBS gated-racing crown despite breakingher foot at the series finals.MOST IMPROVED RIDERS: Duncan Riffle waved goodbye to the NMBSand began grabbing results on the World Cup circuit, and netted the stars-and-stripesjersey. And with her first pro team contract in hand, Heather Irmiger finishedsecond on the NMBS cross-country circuit.BEST TEAM: Shonny Vanlandingham grabbed the NMBS overall despitehaving a rocky midseason. Katerina Nash was virtually untouchable in NMBSshort-track events. Jimena Florit grabbed the NMBS finals win in Snowmass,and “development rider” Georgia Gould won the national championships. Allin all, a good year for the Luna women’s team.BEST GRASS-ROOTS TEAM: The red-and-white Trek-Volkswagen regionalteam colors were everywhere in 2006, and with strong riders like Ross Schnelland Jenny Smith, the team was a force on the NMBS circuit.