Marlborough MTB crew maintain hot streak

Marlborough mountain bike riders continued their hot streak during the Cycling New Zealand Schools MTB championships held at Coronet Peak on March 21-23.

Riders from this province secured two overall championships and a number of other notable top 10 finishes.

Leading the way was Kobie Madsen, representing Bohally Intermediate.

Kobie came away with the overall under-13 boys title after strong performances across all three events. He dominated the enduro, taking the fastest time in three of the four stages, his winning time over 16 seconds faster than the runner-up.

Also notable was Kobie’s downhill performance. He had a large crash in practice and in his race run but was still able to get back on his bike and finish third. It was estimated Kobie lost over 20 seconds due to his crash, but only missed the top step of the podium by six seconds, a remarkable result. His explanation for the crash was he was “putting down a heater” and just went a little too fast around one corner.

He rounded out his championships with a fourth place in the cross country.

MGC student Maddy Sinclair maintained her impressive recent form, following her national title victory in the downhill last month, by taking out the overall championship in the U20 girls’ category.

The key to her success was her consistency across all three events.

In the cross country, despite feeling sick, Maddy ground out a third place finish.  She was three minutes back on first but beat the fourth-placed rider by almost 13 minutes.

In the downhill, Maddy eclipsed the time that won her the national title last month by over 15 seconds, breaking the four-minute mark on the Coronet DH track for the first time. This was enough to secure Maddy second place in the downhill.

In the enduro, a torrid battle for the minor placings behind clear leader Juliet Freeman of Rangi Ruru ensued between Maddy, Erica Batchelor from Nayland College and Katie Lawrence from Mount Aspiring College.  After the first stage, the three riders were separated by just 0.6 of a second. Going into the final stage, Katie was two seconds up on Maddy with Erica 1.5 back in 4^th.  The final stage saw Katie pull away to take second and Maddy put a further two seconds on Erica to secure her third podium of the event.

Other top ten finishes from Marlborough Boys College riders included: Alex Craig (U20 Boys) Downhill 6^th; Liam Harcus (U16 Boys) Enduro 7^th; Jono Planthaber (U16 Boys) Downhill 8^th.