Auckland pair win senior titles as Marlborough tops schools mountain bike
Auckland senior school champions Poppy Buissink and Sam Buckley took the step up to claim the under-20 cross-country honours on the final day of the National Schools Mountain Bike Championships in Dunedin.
The event, hosted by Mountain Biking Otago and presented by Evo Cycles, attracted over 400 riders from 110 schools around the country, with riders competing in the Enduro on Friday, Downhill on Saturday and Cross-Country today on the testing tracks at Signal Hill, near Logan Park.
Buckley (Westlake Boys) scored the biggest win of his young career with victory in the under-20 male race today. He went boldly from the start and was never threatened, ultimately finishing 1min 30sec clear of second placed Matthew Wilson with a further 30 seconds to Palmerston North’s Max Taylor, a member of the Subway national mountain bike performance hub.
“I was second into the forest but managed to pass the leader about 200m in,” said Buckley. “I thought I would hammer it for the first lap like it was a one-lap race and see if I could string out the field.
“I looked back and noticed after the first lap I had a 10 second or so gap so I just decided to keep the hammer down, and I managed to stay away.”
Buissink, who was runner-up last year, capped off a superb weekend with a dominant display in the cross-country to go with her win in the enduro and runner-up in the downhill. The Epsom Girls Grammar rider finished five minutes clear of school-mate Sarah Harvison with a further two minutes to Emma Cunningham from Taieri College.
“I wanted to get to the single track first which I did. I was happy with that, and then decided to see if I could break it up on the Big Easy which gave me a good lead,” she said.
One of the classiest rides came in the under-17 boys race with Darfield College rider Ethan Rose winning in 1:11.59. The New Zealand under-17 champion finished 1min 30sec ahead of Adam Francis (Palmerston North Boys) with North Canterbury’s Jacob Turner (Rangiora High) third.
“It was a tough one with the three of us together for the first three laps. I decided to push on the steep climb and got a bit of a gap and managed to hold it to the end. It was good fun for a schools track, pretty technical and nice steep climbs. It dried out nicely and was really grippy today,” Rose said.
Christchurch’s Amelie Mackay (Cashmere High) needed a major effort on the final climb of the last lap to haul in Greymouth’s Emma Wilson (John Paul II) to win the under-17 girls.
In other notable performances, the Grey sisters from Cambridge made it a family double with last year’s under-14 winner and the national under-15 champion Seana claiming the under-15 title comfortably while sister Caoilinn claimed the under 13 honours by a whopping eight minutes.
Nelson’s Rebecca Hufflett completed a trifecta of results with third in the under-16 cross-country with her win in the enduro on day one and second placing in the downhill on Saturday.
The under-16 victory went to Christchurch’s Annabel Bligh (Cashmere High) to back up her strong performance in finishing second in the New Zealand championships in the under-17 category at Rotorua earlier in the year.
Other younger riders showed progression from last year, led by Milla Phipps (Rotorua Lakes) winning the under 14 honours after taking out the under-13 grade last year
One of the standout performances was the win by Motueka’s Ethan Woods in the under-15 race, despite three crashes during the race. He fought back to beat off the challenges of Maui Morrison (Cambridge High) and Max Preece (St Peters Auckland), who finished first and second in the under-15 race at the national championships.
“It wasn’t my best start but I caught it up at the top and stayed in second until the rock garden when I had my first of three gnarly crashes,” said Woods, the under-15 South Island champion.
“I managed to move up on the fourth lap back into second and I was so happy and on that last super steep climb by the rock garden I managed to take Maui and into the lead. I floored it on the last lap and managed to hold them off.”
Christchurch’s Zakai Hedges, runner-up in the South Island championships, scored an impressive win in the under-16 race over last year’s under-15 champion Cameron Beck (John Paul College) in an excellent race.
The leading overall school was Marlborough Boys High School ahead of Wakatipu High School and Shirley Boys High School.
Results, day 3, cross-country:
Male, under 13: John Laurie (Christchurch South Intermediate) 53:49, 1; Payo O’Sullivan (St Martins School) 53:51, 2; Fletcher Adams (Berkley Middle School) 54:47, 3. Under-14: Cam Anderson (Marlborough Boys) 48:45, 1; Finn McKenzie (Bohally Intermediate) 49:54, 2; Joe Millington (Takapuna Grammar) 51:17, 3. Under 15: Ethan Woods (Motueka High) 1:04:16, 1; Maui Morrison (Cambridge High) 1:05:19, 2; Max Preece (St Peters Auck) 1:056:48, 3. Under 16: Zakai Hedges (Shirley Boys) 1:06:27, 1; Cameron Beck (John Paul College) 1:07:56, 2; Cody Harvey (James Hargest College) 1:08:39, 3. Under 17: Ethan Rose (Darfield High) 1:11:59, 1; Adam Francis (Palmerston North Boys) 1:13:30, 2; Jacob Turner (Rangiora High) 1:15:59, 3. Under 20: Sam Buckley (Westlake Boys) 1:12:29, 1; Matthew Wilson (Macleans College) 1:13:59, 2; Max Taylor (Palmerston North Boys) 1:14:25, 3.
Female, under 13: Caoillan Gray (Cambridge Middle School) 46:32, 1; Amy Benson (Mt Aspiring College) 54:38, 2; Kate Hastings (John Paul College) 54:44, 3. Under-14: Milla Phipps (Rotorua Lakes High) 47:43, 1; Meghan Baker (St Martins School) 50:18, 2; Katie Lawrence (James Hargest College) 51:09, 3. Under 15: Seana Gray (Cambridge High) 1:02:02, 1; Maria Laurie (Cashmere High) 1:03:42, 2; Zara MacKley (Wakatipu High) 1:13:53, 3. Under 16: Annabel Bligh (Cashmere High) 57:32, 1; Mia Cameron (Taupo Nui-a-tia) 57:42, 2; Rebecca Hufflett (Nelson College) 57:49, 3. Under 17: Amelie MacKay (Cashmere High) 1:19:54, 1; Emma Wilson (John Paul High) 1:20:05, 2; Scarlett Buissink (Epsom Girls) 1:25:12, 3. Under 20: Poppy Buissink (Epsom Girls) 1:15:54, 1; Sarah Harvison (Epsom Girls) 1:20:57, 2; Emma Cunningham (Taieri College) 1:23:09, 3.
CAPTION: Auckland’s Poppy Buissink (Epsom Girls Grammar) in action in the cross-country competition at the National Schools Mountain Bike Championships presented by EVO Cycles at Signal Hill, Dunedin. Photo Credit: Jemma Wells Photography
Details: www.schoolscycling.nz.
For further information contact:
Charlotte Pearson
Cycling New Zealand Events Manager
charlotte.pearson@cyclingnewzealand.nz
021 292 0563