Tue, May 18, 2021 4:35 PM

MTB club event caters for younger riders

news-card
avatar-news-card

Peter Jones

The inclusion of junior riders for the first time boosted both numbers and excitement levels when the Marlborough Mountain Bike Club hosted nearly 100 riders in the Wither Hills Mountain Bike Park over the weekend.

Sponsored by Marlborough Glass, the club staged a junior enduro on Saturday and an intermediate enduro on Sunday, the former competition offering some youngsters their first experience of mountain bike racing.

An enduro is a race where riders must ride to the top of the hill and are then timed on their downhill runs.  Following public demand, the club organised its first junior enduro for young riders aged 8-12.

On Saturday, 40 kids lined up for a five-stage enduro on the tracks in the lower half of the MTB Park.

The youngsters embraced the racing, with only 15 seconds covering both the top three in the girls and boys races.

Fastest time of the day went to Sam Jones in an impressive 4.30 minutes, beating Alex Herd by one second. Kobie Madsen, in the eight and nine-year-old category showed his potential, taking third fastest time in 4.45.

Seven girls also competed, with Katherine De Zwart taking the win from Meredith Sheard with Elina Fetscher third.

A feature of the event was the support of a number of the club’s nationally-ranked secondary school racers who rode alongside and encouraged the younger kids.

Club president Fraser Brown said, “it was so excited to watch the next wave of junior club riders having such a great time racing.  The club will definitely look to follow up with a Super D race for the young racers in the near future”.

Age grade winners:

Female 8 & 9: Elina Fetscher. Female 10 & 11: Katherine De Zwart. Female 12: Meredith Sheard. Males 8 & 9: Kobie Madsen. Males 10 & 11: Sam Jones. Males 12: Blake Pitts.

On Sunday it was the older kids’ turn, with 53 riders aged from 13 to 60-something competing.

To encourage more riders to give enduro racing a go, the club organised an intermediate enduro that featured many of the tracks used by recreational riders. But, to add interest, the tracks featured some new short lines and used a combination of tracks across each of the four stages.

Cam Clemett showed his class, winning with a time almost a minute quicker than second-placed Tom Morrison. Lachlan McNabb took the final step on the podium, earning bragging rights at home by beating Dad, Warren, by over 90 seconds.

In the female races, young guns Neve McKenzie and Maddy Sinclair battled for the fastest female with Neve ending up 20 seconds faster.  Alana McLuckie waved the flag for the Masters, taking the third fastest time for the females.

Age grade winners

Female U15: Neve McKenzie. Female U17: Maddy Sinclair. Female Masters 1: Ellie Wilson. Female Masters 2: Mel Schroder. Female masters 3: Alana McLuckie. Male U15: Alex Craig. Male U17: Tom Morrison. Male Sport: Cam Clemett. Male Masters 1: John Wood. Male Masters 2: Mike Sheard. Male Masters 3: Warren McNabb. Male Masters 4: Peter Webster. Male E-bikes: Mark Owen.

The next round of the Marlborough Glass Enduro Series will be an advanced enduro to be staged in the Taylor Forest in August. This round will be raced on tracks that which will be used for the Skoda Cycling NZ Schools National MTB Championships, hosted by WK Advisors and Accountants, in October.

Marlborough App Logo
Marlborough App
About
Contact
Marlborough App is owned by Top South Media. a locally owned media company.