Oceania MTB Championships MT Hutt New Zealand
By Scott Bowden.
I had initially decided not to make the trip over the Tasman Sea to the South island of New Zealand for Oceania Champs due to starting uni and assuming I’d be too tied up with commitments there. A last minute decision saw me realize I was enrolled in a course I didn’t want to do, leading me to do something I wasn’t interested in. Through this decision making process I realized what it was I did want to do as well as realizing having a gap year would be a good option for myself having just finished year 12 and a hectic one at that.
Once the decision was made to have a gap year I had no excuse not to go to Oceania’s! I was extremely fortunate to be able to travel with my coach Jenni King from Pedallab and her partner and support ace Ed Hollinger as well as Torq Australia riders Mark Tupalski, Ben Forbes and Tristan Ward. I booked flights and the rest is history.
Having spent the majority of Thursday travelling we arrived in Methven a small town 1.5hr drive from Christchurch at the bas of Mt Hutt. We did the usual unpacking of bikes and organized ourselves for course practice the following morning.
At the completion of the first lap of the track we were all excitingly impressed with the course as it was a proper mountain bike course with no shortage of climbing, steep, rooty, technical decents and fun flowing trails.
The u23 race started two minutes behind the Elite field at 12:30. Us boys opted to ride out to the track (approx.. 40min ride – most of which was flat) to warm up. Mitch Greenway’s dad happened to catch up to us in his hire van and motor paced us to the course providing a great warm up. I was lucky enough to be called up on the front line for the race.
Managing a good jump off the line I made sure I didn’t waste any energy too early in the race. Entering the single track in a good position I rolled through the first lap in 7th. From there I moved into 6th on the second lap passing a Kiwi rider on the long drawn out climbs. We yo-yoed a fair bit throughout the race and just as I thought I had dropped him he managed to claw his way back and attack on the last lap leaving me to finish in 7th. I was happy with the result and pleased with my decision to make the trip abroad.
The trip would not have been possible however without the help of 4Shaw and Giant Bicycles Australia both of whom have provided top notch products for this season! A special mention also goes to Dean from Torq Australia for providing nutrition for the weekend allow me to fight hard for all of the 6 laps throughout the race. And to Jenni and Ed for letting me stay with them!
Pictures courtesy of Rebekah Tregurtha.