South Canterbury Mountain Bike Club

Seven South Canterbury riders competed in excellent riding conditions last Sunday at the Hanmer Hammerhead. This years course was again very tough with each 13km lap including 450m of climbing. Elite riders having to complete three laps. Although the climbs were hard work, like any good MTB course you were rewarded with fun downhills. As is normal these day’s “Pushbikes” riders cleaned up with the amazing Anton Cooper taking out the overall win.  

Lucie Urbanicova was the most successfull South Canterbury rider being the first open woman and 2nd female overall in the elite woman. David Ashby-Coventry also had a great battle in the elite under 15 age group for 2nd place with pushbikes rider Jacob Stutheridge before crashing near the end.

Emma Prestige, Milan Bodina and Cameron Fitzgerald also competed strongly, unfortunately Kyle Wood , (who was up near the front) and Craig Atwill did not finish.

Emma, Craig, Cameron, David and Simon (who did not race) spent 4 day’s in Hanmer enjoying the tracks. If you get the chance ride “The Threshold” track, after a significant climb you get a very cool piece of endless downhill single track. Brilliant. Sadly my favourite track “Bigfoot” is closed due to forestry operations. If you want an mtb event that is a challange but also a lot of fun ride the Hammerhead. (any race profits also go back into track building) - Thanks Hanmer MTB club.

Simon

McLean’s Island 6 and 12 hour races 10 October 2009

Five South Canterbury teams took part in the event with amazing success.

6 hour - 1st senior men’s and 1^st overall – Wilson Bros Racing ( Kyle Wood, Kelvin Fox and Daron Colvill)

6 Hour – 1^st Junior boy’s – The Mouldy Toenails (Cameron Fitzgerald, Ollie Austin and David Ashby-Coventry)

6 Hour – 1^st Vet mens and 2^nd overall – Save me a Sausage 2 (Craig Atwill, Trevor Prattley and Simon Coventry)

12 hr – 2^nd Open Woman’s – G-Force (Rachel Richards, Emily Watson, Kika Miederhoff and Emma Prestige.

The day was very cold and windy but fortunately the rain stayed away. The previous few day’s rain had left puddles all throughout parts of the track however the actual track is impervious to rain and you could hit the berms as fast as you liked. McLean’s Island has been extended by 5 kms so it was cool to ride some new track and if we weren’t racing there would have been heaps of little jumpy opportunities.

Kyle Wood and Craig Atwill put up the quickest times of the local riders but we were all put to the sword by the incredible young pushbikes boy’s who took out the 12 hour event with some stunning lap times. It is hard to see anyone coming near these boy’s in the Timaru 12 hr.

This is a Secondary School event and may include both Yr 7 & 8 riders and non-Aoraki region racers. All racers must be attending a school and have their entry form signed by the school principal.

The Course is on Private Property and cannot be ridden without permission of the South Canterbury Mountain Bike Club. There is no access to the property during September due to lambing.

Please respect the landowner’s property, do not interfere with any stock, fences or gates. Smoking or any flames are not permitted in the forest.

The X Scenic MTB Race will be held on Sunday Feb 8th in Centennial Park, Timaru. 

This year there are two races:

The Sport race is 20km (1½ laps) beginning at 10am.

The Elite race is 40km (3 laps) starting at 1pm. 

On-line entries click here or pick up entry forms at local bike shops.

The Elite race will also run as the second round of the new South Island MTB Cup and the 5th round of the NZ MTB Cup.  If you want to enter and get points towards the cups then click here for more details and on-line entry forms.

This is a fantastic course that has been designed by SC MTB Club members Kelvin, Alan, Simon and Wally plus others.  Many thanks to them for their continuing input.

It is a demanding course that is a good test for all levels of rider, but is more suited to intermediate/senior experienced MTBers.

On Thursday 22nd January at 6.30pm Chris Thomas, the race organiser will be leading a bunch ride around the new course (one lap is 13.5km).  Meet at the lake car park.

Chris is looking for support from club members to help with the mark out, set up, marshalling and pack out over the weekend of 6th (Waitangi Day), 7th and 8th February. 

Please spread the word as this is a great opportunity to have the best cross country riders in NZ right here in our backyard and we want to put on a great show for them.

If you can help make this a successful event and showcase for Timaru, please contact Chris Thomas directly:

chris@specialevents.co.nz

Chris Thomas

Special Events Aoraki Ltd

Professional Event Managers

Phone 03 688 5531 Fax 03 688 5647 Cell 027 297 9643

http://www.specialevents.co.nz/

McLeans Island in the morning

• 11km one-way loop - no oncoming traffic
• Buffed singletrack, bermed corners mostly through pine forest
• No climbs (other than up ‘n’ down stopbanks)
• Suitable for all abilities - great for families, even with quite young children (so long as they can cope with the distance)
• Suitable even in inclement weather
• 25 minutes to 1 hour per lap - the fast guys ‘n’ gals can do multiple laps!

Check out http://www.onyourbike.co.nz/ for details. McLeans Island is between Christchurch Airport and the Waimakariri River - the entrance to the MTB track is opposite Orana Park.

BYO lunch

Port Hills singletrack in the afternoon

• 20+ kilometre loop
• 2+ hours

We’ll start from a car park above the Sign of the Takahe in Cashmere, so no huge climb: 5 minutes of tarseal up to Victoria Park, then climbing offroad for 15 minutes will have us up to the Summit Road, just below Sugarloaf Transmitter. Admire the view across the city and plains to the Alps and catch your breath before turning left (East) and ride flowing singletrack along Bowenvale Traverse Track probably as far as the top of Rapaki Track.

Return the way we came but continue past Sugarloaf, dropping down Thomsons Track past the Sign of the Kiwi (maybe an icecream?) and a short tarseal climb along the Summit Road to the top of Worsleys Road, then down Marleys Hill Track (aka “Flying Nun”) onto Old Dyers Pass Track then a short climb back to the waiting cars.

This ride is 80% singletrack, 10% 4WD track, 10% tarseal

I would describe it as moderately difficult singletrack - narrow, with frequent obstacles - a few (mainly very short - often only 10 metres or so) stretches may be easier walked. Some technical ability and confidence is required. If you aren’t comfortable riding the more technical tracks in the Scenic, you may find this ride challenging in places.
Check out http://www.onyourbike.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=30 for some good photos of what to expect on the easier sections of track.

Check out http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Cycling/TracksRides/PortHills.asp for more details on the tracks, and track reports. Note that as at yesterday many of the tracks were closed due to the recent rain, however the tracks I’ve selected above are very quick-drying (except for Old Dyers Pass Track, which we can avoid if need be). In the absence of any more significant rain, I’m reasonably confident the tracks will be open by next weekend.

Obviously, the Port Hills are exposed and so this ride is weather-dependent. It’s not a nice place to be in a howling southerly! We’ll keep Bottle Lake Forest as a backup - lots of great tracks with plenty of shelter.

More details next week as to car-pooling, meeting times and places

Hope lots of you can make it

Ken

Hello to all those who can proudly say they completed the first ever Contact Epic!! It sure was a fantastic day and one which lead to a lot of pride and achievement (as well as the odd sore part!).

Sponsorship

Contact Energy have powered up their support for the 2009 event. Next year they not only want to support more local community groups and winners but also each of you as well! They are providing every competitor with a free 10 minute massage at the end of the race as well as a free commemorative photo of each competitor somewhere along this picturesque journey.

We wish to again thank you for your support in the inaugural year by informing you first of the opening of entries.

You have one week to enter on line before we begin to advertise via our database and the local media.

Entering before the end of August will save you money as well.

To access the discount entitlement all you need to do is enter nzsultimate if you wish to enter the Epic or ultimate if you wish to enter the Classic into the discount code box on the entry page.

Any students who completed the 2008 event are also eligible for entry into the open leg of the Epic and therefore LMS kitty.

You are also eligible for the free entries offered again by Taff and Penny Cochrane to the first 10 local high school entrants if you are still at school.

To receive the free entry all you need to do is be one of the first 10 students to type focstudent into the discount code box. As there is no parental permission section in the open men’s please just print off the entry form and post in with parental permission noted, and your school, on the bottom as well as filling in the online form.

Click here to enter on line now: http://www.contactepic.co.nz/entry.html