South Island Secondary School MTB Champs
Words & Photography // Matt Wood
Racing is back on the menu in the lower end of the country and the future of New Zealand mountain bike racing is bright if the entry numbers from the Secondary School MTB Champs are anything to go by. The Mountain Biking Otago club played host last weekend to the South Island Secondary Champs for the 5th year running.
The event was hosted over 3 days by the local club at Signal Hill in the coastal city of Dunedin.
Dunedin is famous for Victorian architecture, the world's steepest street and a university with a solid party culture. The riders were treated to the inner city trail network of Signal Hill. Mountain Biking Otago has just completed the first stage of a new car park and event hub and, what better way to try it out than with a large event.
Entry numbers were large with the downhill receiving twice the number of entries as the NZ National Champs and nearly 4 times for the cross country bucking the national trend of declining participation in national level XC and DH events, even with the huge increase of people taking up mountain biking as a hobby.
There was a friendly, yet ultra-competitive rivalry between schools firing up the competitors, as they try to win the bragging rights of being the overall South Island champions.
Friday, Day 1 - Enduro. The event kicking off of the final Friday afternoon of the school holidays and with snow in the forecast, the grommies were entertained with a four-stage enduro race. The conditions were windy wet and cold with occasional snow flurries at the top of the hill which added a hustle to the liaisons as well as the race stages.
There were well over 200 entries to the race overall and this is the first time an enduro has been run as part of the Secondary School Champs event. It was a great success as its best to start training our next enduro world champs early. Race timing was perfect with the last riders finishing the final stage as a hail storm rolled across the city, so 10/10 for planning.
Day 2 Downhill.After a night of strong winds, competitors returned to Signal Hill to find it had been blow dried after Fridays hail and sleet. 224 keen high school kids geared up ready for a day of shuttles and high paced racing. The track was one that was tailored to all those who were racing allowing both those new to the sport, and any up and coming national champs to pit it out against one another on the 1.7 km track, with an elevation drop of 280 meters.
Day 3 Cross Country.The weather was not kind to the cross country competitors. By the end of racing on Saturday, the hill was almost bone dry, but a solid dumping of rain overnight drastically lifted the difficulty for rides and the excitement for spectators. The rain had turned the downhill segments from a nice mid grade trail into a greasy slick clay descent that was ripe for some schoolboy heckling.
Such is life in the world of racing mountain bikes, you can’t pick the weather on race day, so 230+ riders got stuck in and had a blast round several laps of the course 4km course with some fierce sprint battles and some wins only taken by half a bike length.
The event was organised by A huge thanks needs to go out to the volunteers from Mountain Biking Otago that organised the even as well as the event sponsors RIDE 100%, Maxxis Tires, BBB Bike Parts, Giant Bicycles New Zealand, Marleen Wholesalers, Ltd, and Bike Otago. Thanks to the team from Red Cross Dunedin for the first aid and picking up the pieces when things didn't go right for the competitors and all the Mums and Dads for bringing their kids to the race.
Mountain bike racing is alive and well in the south.
Full results can be found here
https://schools.cyclingnewzealand.nz/results
Now, kiwi lager on the other hand. If you shook the can too much sometimes they'd rupture.
Meant you developed silky smooth styles on Student track while playing Russian roulette with the can in your back pack.
What is the world coming too......?