NZ MTB National Series XC #2

Nelson, New Zealand, January 19, 2003

The Cross Country mountain bike competition today in the Maitai Valley, Nelson, saw some amazing racing and some equally amazing crashes. Most - that being the operative word - riders enjoyed the track.

The fast track, 6.5km per lap, partly on the Maitai Walkway, runs through a mixture of single track, narrow firebreak and mature pine forest on a variety of different surfaces. This race, like the downhill yesterday, enabled the riders to earn valuable UCI points.

The course had a particularly steep downhill part that caught out a few of the riders, including recent Commonwealth Games silver medallist Susy Pryde. Pryde was one of the top four riders when the crash put her out of the race altogether.

Stuart Houltham (Taupo), NZ Cross Country Series winner 2001 and 2002, was riding well and had just managed to take over second place from Jason Clement (Levin) when he got a flat tyre.

The world ranked Florian Vogel of Switzerland once again had an absolutely stunning race - described by one spectator as "a machine". Vogel outperformed the 32 other Pro-Elite men by finishing the eight laps in a time of 1:58.38, over nine minutes ahead of 2002 NZ Champion Jason Clement. He began lapping other competitors early on in the race - 21 in total, automatically putting them out of the race. Vogel returns to Switzerland for a mountain bike training camp in a week, so this was his last race in the NZ National Series.

Women's 2002 National Champion, Rebecca Cullen of Nelson, ame second this time to one of NZ's top XC riders, Sadie Parker-Wynyard (Auckland). Parker-Wynyard finished the six laps in a time of 1:57.12, just over two minutes ahead of Cullen, who won last weekend's race in Wanaka. Another of NZ's top XC riders, 2002 National Series winner Robyn Wong of Wellington, finished close behind Cullen in a time of 2:00.16.

Next weekend sees the National Series move to Levin for the cross country on Sunday, January 26. The next downhill takes place in Rotorua during the first weekend of February.

Results

Sport Junior Men
 
1 Sean Brady (Nelson)                         55.34
2 James Duncan (Wellington)                    2.22
3 Owen Hughes (Nelson)                         5.02
4 Chris Sharland (Nelson)                      9.39
5 Mitchell Cooper (Nelson)                    12.14
6 Hamish Dephoff (Wakefeild)                  15.17
7 Jeremy Lennon (Invercargill)                21.27
8 Patrick Avery (Rotorua)                  at 1 lap
 
Sport Senior Men
 
1 Dan Dollimore (Blenheim)                    52.05
2 Ashley Toms (Nelson)                         7.51
 
Sport Master Men
 
1 Minoslav Sunkovski (Motueka)                55.19
2 Craig Toomer (Tauranga)                      6.20
3 Doug Sharland (Nelson)                       6.58
4 Gareth Williams (Nelson)                     8.24
5 Aaron Roller (Usa)                          13.19
6 John Mote (Christchurch)                    14.04
7 Craig Skillicorn (Motueka)               at 1 lap
 
Sport Master Women
 
1 Maryann Avery (Rotorua)                   0.57.59
 
Expert Junior U17 Men
 
1 Sam Bewley (Rotorua)                      1.26.39
2 Clinton Avery (Rotorua)                      4.24
3 Ryan Marshall (Levin)                        5.08
4 William Lush (Te Anau)                       8.58
5 Luke Newman (Lower Hutt)                    11.07
6 Aaron Perry (Rotorua)                       16.58
7 Kerry Morgan                                17.32
8 Joshua Williamson (Blenheim)                18.30
9 Samuel Gordon (Otaki)                       20.01
10 Michael Crowley (Levin)                    32.52
11 Paul Langlands (Cambridge)                 40.08
 
Expert Junior U17 Women
 
1 Michelle Bellamy (Nelson)                 1.34.55
2 Monique Avery (Rotorua)                     37.18
DNF Hayley Robertson (Upper Hutt)          at 1 lap
 
Expert Junior Men
 
1 Matthew Dewes (Taupo)                     1.26.14
2 Stephen Butler (Upper Hutt)                  4.34
3 Phillip Murphy (Wellington)                  4.47
4 Miles Watson (Hamilton)                      5.31
5 Brent Vlug (Rotorua)                        10.39
6 Zane Christey (Riverton)                    15.33
7 Paul Macmillan (Wellington)                 18.16
8 Nathon Sharratt (Wanganui)                  22.40
9 Blake Dear (Gisborne)                       48.58
 
Expert Junior Women
 
1 Karina Wilkinson (Levin)                  1.25.20
 
Expert Under 23 Men
 
1 Scott Lyttle (Masterton)                  1.42.59
2 Simon Forrest (Blenheim)                     1.15
3 Jeremy Thatcher (Auckland)                   4.22
4 Benjamin Somerton (Levin)                    6.15
5 Francis Newman (Lower Hutt)                 10.21
6 Mark Chamberlain (Auckland)                 17.22
7 Chris Fisher (Wellington)                   25.50
8 Hamish Collie (Wellington)               at 1 lap
DNF Vaughn Phillipson (Napier)
 
Expert Senior Men
 
1 Andrew Merrylees (Rangiora)               1.46.58
2 Philip Dickinson (Auckland)                  3.55
3 Andrew Rhodes (Christchurch)                 4.49
4 Paul Kelly (Wellington)                      7.03
5 Christopher Kendall (Wellington)             7.59
6 Steven Wilson (Invercargill)                 8.36
7 Jason Whiteman (Katikati)                   11.36
8 Craig Whiting (Wellington)                  14.41
9 Shane Nolan (Christchurch)                  17.01
10 Aaron Reardon (Nelson)                     17.29
11 Mike Clarkson (South Canterbury)           19.36
12 Tim Wearing (Blenheim)                     21.46
13 Steven Roger (Temuka)                      29.34
14 Tim Elsmore (Rotorua)                      29.45
15 Justin Price (Hamilton)                 at 1 lap
DNF Stewart Thorp (Nelson)
DNF Geoffrey Mcelrea (Wellington)
DNF Rodney Wallace (Palmerston North)
 
Expert Senior Women
 
1 Cathy Hamer (Wellington)                  1.48.24
2 Kelly Fogden (Whangarei)                     2.00
3 Angela Eccles (Christchurch)                 6.18
4 Sonia Foote (Rotorua)                        7.11
5 Melanie Eccles (Queenstown)                  8.20
6 Wendy Osborne (Wellington)                   9.43
7 Joanna Forbes (Wellington)                  11.37
8 Kellie Palmer (Levin)                       13.52
9 Erin Greene (Dunedin)                       21.13
10 Michele Duffy (Levin)                      23.36
11 Julie Melanson (Hamilton)                  24.23
12 Emma Wright (Wellington)                   24.34
13 Katie Collins (Taupo)                      26.12
14 Vicky Robertson (Wellington)            at 1 lap
15 Richelle Marshall (Palmerston North)
DNF Sandy Kunz (Nelson)
DNF Amanda Platt (Christchurch)
DNF Nicole Swain (Wellington)
 
Expert Master 30+ Men
 
1 Neil Sutherland (Christchurch 8002)       1.24.40
2 Michael Metz (Auckland)                      0.30
3 Chris Gaze (Putaruru)                        0.59
4 Peter Sutherland (Te Kuiti 2500)             2.39
5 Andrew Evans (Christchurch)                  3.11
6 Jason Blair (Christchurch)                   3.58
7 Michael Anderson (Dunedin)                   4.32
8 James Hufflett (Nelson)                      6.16
9 Michael Sanders (Christchurch)               7.08
10 Tony Morgan (Hamilton)                     15.47
11 David Robinson (Christchurch)              17.59
12 Shayne Riches (Lower Hutt)                 18.50
13 Tony Harris 2 (Little River)               29.46
14 Benny Devlin (Auckland)                 at 1 lap
DNF Russel Smith (Auckland)
 
Expert Master 30+ Women
 
1 Jane Rose (Nelson)                        1.34.51
2 Anne Fallow (Christchurch)                   5.36
 
Expert Master 40+ Men
 
1 Scott Maclachlan (Wellington)             1.34.34
2 Marco Renall (Lower Hutt)                    0.29
3 Mark Marshall (Levin)                        2.06
4 Dave Chambers (Auckland)                     5.12
5 Christopher Faithfall (Auckland)             8.08
6 Dave Bishop (Palmerston North)              10.35
7 Colin Caldwell (Auckland)                   12.01
8 Geoff Herbert (New Plymouth)                12.48
9 Derek Milne (Nelson)                        19.48
10 Mark Brommer (Wellington)                  20.47
DNF Dave Wallace (Wellington)              at 1 lap
 
Expert Master 50+ Men
 
1 Robert Kennedy (Blenheim)                 1.19.41
2 Philip Christmas (Palmerston North)         17.00
DNF Tom Sharland (Nelson)                  at 1 lap
 
Pro-Elite Men
 
1 Florian Vogel (Switzerland)               1.58.38
2 Jason Clement (Levin)                        9.06
3 Wayne Hiscock (Wellington)                  10.44
4 Chris Burr (Nelson)                         11.40
5 Nick Hotchin (Auckland)                     13.28
6 Michael Northcott (Mangakino)               14.20
7 Andrew Reid (Blenheim)                      14.52
8 Tim Wilding (Taupo)                         18.18
9 Stuart Houltham (Taupo)                  at 1 lap
10 Ben Brears (Nelson)
11 Aaron Tuckerman (Blenheim)
12 Phil Rayner (United Kingdom)
13 Timothy Madgwick (Christchurch)
14 Hilton Power (Whakatane)
15 Marcus Roy (Te Anau)
16 Paul Newnham (United Kingdom)
17 Darry Stevens (New Plymouth)
18 Michael May (Auckland)
19 Mark Leishman (Palmerston North)
20 Steve Bale (Wellington)
21 Damian Phipps (Rotorua)
22 Aaron Kells (Auckland)
23 Kurt Lancaster (Levin)
24 Michael Willacy (Blenheim)
25 Sam Horn (Nelson)
26 John Macinnes (USA)
28 Tim Vincent (Nelson)
29 Benjamin Robson (Christchurch)
30 Clinton Jackson (Auckland)
DNF Andrew East (Auckland)
 
Pro-Elite Women
 
1 Sadie Parker-Wynyard (Auckland)           1.57.12
2 Rebecca Cullen (Nelson)                   0.02.07
3 Robyn Wong (Wellington)                   0.03.04
4 Ingrid Allsop-Bell (Auckland)             0.03.40
5 Brenda Clapp (Nelson)                     0.06.58
6 Emma Bawtree (Nelson)                     0.08.59
7 Raelene Phipps (Rotorua)                  0.15.44
8 Genevieve Whitson (Wellington)            0.16.19
9 Bronwyn Harris (Canterbury)               at 1 lap
10 Susy Pryde (Auckland)