The sun shone on the XC event that was part of the Taranaki Electricity Trust sponsored Masters Games for the first time. 40 riders turned up on the day along with a stream of spectators to the mountain biking facilities at the Lake Mangamahoe Forest just south of New Plymouth. There were 32 male riders and 8 female riders in the various age groups; 30 - 39 yrs, 40 – 49 yrs and 50+. The women raced around 3 laps while the men did 4 laps of the 6 km course. In use for the first time was a new single track section of the forest that has been developed over the past 12 months by the New Plymouth Mountain Bikers Club.
UK based New Plymouth Mountain Bikers Club member Jenn O'Connor, fresh from her success at the NZ MTB Marathon Champs at Colville, raced away with the women’s 30-39 yr old class proving that she is no slug with the sprint version of XC racing. With her doing a 4th “warm down” lap, she came in 4th of all those that completed 4 laps. It was great to have our NZ rep competing even though she was on holiday.
Jenn finishing off her 4th lap:
Lian Brownson from New Plymouth was coaxed out of semi-retirement by the rest of the club’s committee to ride and she won the 40 – 49 yrs class. Hillary Frewin from Inglewood competed along with her partner Newton and came in first in the 50+ yr old class.
Tony Brownrigg from New Plymouth, fresh from his 6th in the same age class at the Karapoti earlier in the month, completed the 4 laps a clear 4 minutes ahead of Brent Simpson in the men’s 30-39 yr old event. Brent distinguished himself with a great crash right in front of the event tent at the end of lap 1; it is a pity it wasn’t caught on camera! This grade had the greatest number of entrants with 17 lining up at the start and 15 finishing.
Tony finishing ahead of his dog:
The 40 – 49 yr men’s grade had 10 entrants and New Plymouth cycling stalwart Vaughan Smith came in ahead of the others. Plus he came in 3rd of all the men’s entrants.
Allan Caird from Wanganui came in first for the 50+ group – good to see our Wanganui neighbours coming up and enjoy our good weather.
It was fun putting on the event and the club looks forward to it next year again being part of the Taranaki Electricity Trust sponsored Masters Games.
Diane Stewart and Glyn Jonas heading off from the start line on Lap 1.
Here is the link to either view or download the complete results (right click on link and do a "Save Target As") :
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/TET.pdf
