Cooper beats all the juniors and seniors for second consecutive weekend

The Living Springs Farm Park in Governors Bay, Christchurch hosted the second round of the New Zealand MTB Cross Country Cup. Weather conditions ranged from bitterly cold and rainy southerlies during the morning age group race to periods of sunshine in the afternoon elite and junior races, with all entrants being kept right on their toes dealing with the sudden and brutal changes in racing conditions.

The elite and under 19 junior race delivered the same four winners from the Cups first round last weekend in Dunedin. Mary Gray faced a greater depth of competition than on her home track last weekend, but the 2011 junior national champion still won comfortably ahead of Amber Johnston. Likewise Anton Cooper who rode through the whole elite field again this week to win the under 19 juniors - Cooper was in a class of his own at Living Springs and continues to delight spectators and competitors alike with his devastating pace and hunger for the front of the race.

The elite women's race was without Beijing Olympian Rosara Joseph this week however Karen Hanlen seemed on a mission to win this race with as much style as possible, and Hanlen put daylight between her win and second placed Katie O'Neill. Switzerland's Jolanda Neff challenged O'Neill for that second position from the gun, but could not find that elusive burst of pace to catch and pass.

The elite men's race was a tough contest. Christchurch's Brad Hudson led for the first three laps, but slipped back to third mid race when Carl Jones launched an aggressive attack for the lead. Dirk Peters tussled with Hudson through the last three laps and the two riders rapidly chipped away at Jones's lead to bring them within striking distance at the end of their six laps. Only 10 seconds separated the three at the line, with Jones clearly relieved to have clung onto the lead and the win at the New Zealand Cup second round. These three had paced themselves right away from the rest of the elite field, eventually ending nearly eight minutes ahead of Patrick Luthi, who outsprinted Rotorua's Sam Shaw for fourth.

Racing for the first time at a national level Olympic format cross country race were the adventure racing dream team of Richard and Elina Ussher. Both athletes are in final preparation mode for the upcoming Coast to Coast event, however were out to enjoy some cross code multi-tasking today in the elite races. Both found the experience tougher than expected with the cross country format, but should be back again based on their first shot at this.

The morning's age group categories raced in terrible conditions, but put on a real show for the crowd of spectators at Living Springs. Master 30-39 rider Phil Patterson rode his wheels off for that category win, and also to try to maintain lead rider position on course from under 17 rider Ben Oliver. Oliver eventually passed Patterson and moved through to outright leader on course with super consistent and fast lap times, to win his category again this week.

The New Zealand MTB Cup now takes a break before resuming for its final rounds in February in the north island. All riders will converge on Nelson for the National Mountain Bike Championships which begin on Friday, January 27 and finish on Sunday afternoon, January 29. Four events and championship titles will be contested next weekend - the super D and cross country eliminator events making their first appearances at national level in New Zealand, joining the traditional downhill and cross country standard events.

Full Results

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Elite men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Carl Jones (NZl)1:42:28
2Brad Hudson (NZl)0:00:07
3Dirk Peters (NZl)0:00:09
4Patrick Luthi (Swi)0:07:53
5Samuel Shaw (NZl)0:07:55
6Tom Bradshaw (NZl)0:08:26
7Brent Miller (NZl)0:10:23
8Adrian Retief (NZl)0:11:00
9Mark Dunlop (NZl)0:12:07
10Logan Horn (NZl)0:13:21
11Nick Miller (NZl)0:13:52
-1lapRichard Ussher (NZl)Row 11 - Cell 2
-1lapMatt Andrew (NZl)Row 12 - Cell 2
-1lapJeremy Inglis (NZl)Row 13 - Cell 2
-1lapIan Burgess (NZl)Row 14 - Cell 2
-1lapDayle McLauchlan (NZl)Row 15 - Cell 2
-3lapsOllie Radford (NZl)Row 16 - Cell 2
-3lapsMike Northcott (NZl)Row 17 - Cell 2
DNFHarley Going (NZl)Row 18 - Cell 2
DNFNick Clark (NZl)Row 19 - Cell 2
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Elite women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Karen Hanlen (NZl)1:38:13
2Katherine O Neil (NZl)0:03:44
3Jolanda Neff (Swi)0:04:29
4Fiona Macdermid (NZl)0:05:02
5Kate Fluker (NZl)0:11:14
6Sasha Smith (NZl)0:13:45
7Ingrid Richter (NZl)0:14:15
8Erin Greene (NZl)0:15:06
-1lapElina Ussher (NZl)Row 8 - Cell 2
DNFMelissa Newell (NZl)Row 9 - Cell 2
DNSJeanette Gerrie (NZl)Row 10 - Cell 2
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Junior U19 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Anton Cooper (NZl)1:21:22
2Craig Oliver (NZl)0:06:04
3Tom Filmer (NZl)0:07:48
4Nigel McDowell (NZl)0:09:23
5Josh Parkin (NZl)0:13:31
6Brett Stokman (NZl)0:14:35
7Tom Fox (NZl)0:17:20
8Kristoff Ford (NZl)0:18:38
9Peter Crampton (NZl)0:19:45
10Elliot Pearce (NZl)0:21:19
-1lapSimon Lawson (NZl)Row 10 - Cell 2
-1lapRyan Hunt (NZl)Row 11 - Cell 2
-1lapHayden Cleminson (NZl)Row 12 - Cell 2
DNFCameron Fitzgerald (NZl)Row 13 - Cell 2
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Junior U19 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mary Gray (NZl)1:26:27
2Amber Johnston (NZl)0:05:22
3Laura Bridger (NZl)0:06:16
4Samantha Hope (NZl)0:06:55
5Caitlin Holmes (NZl)0:15:07
DNFSiobhan MacDonald (NZl)Row 5 - Cell 2
DNFToshiko Knight (NZl)Row 6 - Cell 2
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Senior men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Matt Stewart (NZl)1:55:30
2Peter Rattray (NZl)0:00:52
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Masters 1 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Phil Patterson (NZl)1:40:31
2Jonty Taylor (NZl)0:04:13
3Tim Madgwick (NZl)0:05:15
4Darren Stafford (NZl)0:09:30
5Adam Heard (NZl)0:10:27
6Craig Tregurtha (NZl)0:10:44
7Craig Atwill (NZl)0:13:10
8Jared Scollay (NZl)0:13:48
9Paul Hurford (NZl)0:13:59
-1lapRex Webb (NZl)Row 9 - Cell 2
-2lapsBrendon Chittock (NZl)Row 10 - Cell 2
DNFJosh Findlay (NZl)Row 11 - Cell 2
DNFDanny Murphy (NZl)Row 12 - Cell 2
DNSDanny Murphy (NZl)Row 13 - Cell 2
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Masters 2 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Ray Hope (NZl)1:47:32
2Carl Johnston (NZl)0:04:49
3Rob Soothill (NZl)0:04:57
4Andy MacDonald (NZl)0:09:44
5Jerome Sheppard (NZl)0:12:34
6Dion Chapman (NZl)0:18:12
-1lapMartin O Brien (NZl)Row 6 - Cell 2
-1lapGareth Davies (NZl)Row 7 - Cell 2
-1lapJeremy Steel (NZl)Row 8 - Cell 2
-2lapsJohn MacDonell (NZl)Row 9 - Cell 2
-4lapsJohn McRae (NZl)Row 10 - Cell 2
DNFAl Killick (NZl)Row 11 - Cell 2
DNFSteven Lawson (NZl)Row 12 - Cell 2
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Masters 3 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Ian Paintin (NZl)1:24:00
2Paul McDowell (NZl)0:06:09
3Marco Renall (NZl)0:16:39
4Ash Sparks (NZl)0:19:27
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Junior U17 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Ben Oliver (NZl)1:13:03
2David Ashby-Coventry (NZl)0:01:13
3Gareth Cannon (NZl)0:05:09
4Mitchell Campbell (NZl)0:06:59
5Jack Compton (NZl)0:07:24
6Henry Jaine (NZl)0:10:15
7Peter Bethell (NZl)0:11:06
8Tom Coombes (NZl)0:13:35
9Scott Barr (NZl)0:14:59
10Daniel Cleminson (NZl)0:16:14
11Ben Friel (NZl)0:16:56
12Bradley Chandler (NZl)0:20:20
13Nathan Johnston (NZl)0:21:36
14Robin Page (NZl)0:25:33
15Alex Beaven (NZl)0:47:32
DNFCameron Ford (NZl)Row 15 - Cell 2
DNFJosh Donaldson (NZl)Row 16 - Cell 2
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Senior women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Monique Avery (NZl)1:39:32
2Kathryn Campbell (NZl)0:04:36
3Emma Prestidge (NZl)0:10:18
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Masters 1 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Kristie Fogarty (NZl)1:51:30
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Masters 2 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Linda Hope (NZl)2:14:17
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Junior U17 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Harriet Beaven (NZl)1:10:00
2Shannon Hope (NZl)0:00:13
3Olivia Miller (NZl)0:05:18
4Brook Hudson (NZl)0:27:59
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Junior U15 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Paul Wright (NZl)1:07:44
2Connor McRae (NZl)0:02:55
3Finn Conway (NZl)0:06:17
4Luke Gold (NZl)0:15:40
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Junior U15 women
#Rider Name (Country) Team
DNSZia Macdermid (NZl)

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