Laird, Sharratt repeat New Zealand cross country round wins

Brendon Sharratt and Amy Laird took victories in the elite men's and women's cross country races for round two of the New Zealand Mountain Bike series in Dunedin.

After a week of wet weather leading up to the event, racers encountered mixed conditions. Age group categories racing in the morning on the Forrester Park cross country course faced a greasy track, which dried significantly during their two-hour race. By the mid afternoon, the elite and under 23 racers got to compete a course in near-perfect conditions.

Christchurch's Amy Laird dominated the women's race from start to finish for the second week in a row and proved her win at home last weekend was no fluke. Rotorua's Samara Sheppard couldn't hold Laird's pace after the first of the four-lap, 25km race, and Dunedin's Sara MacDonald gamely tried to stay in touch to finish only 48 seconds behind Laird.

With the under 19 juniors on course at the same time as the elites and under 23s, there was a display of brutal and exceptional racing in the junior grade. Winner Brad Hudson kept pace with Sharratt during the under 19 five-lap race, with the first three under 19 finishers all within three minutes of Hudson by the end of their race.

The next round of the New Zealand Mountain Bike Cup will move to Nelson next weekend, January 23.

Results

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Elite & Under 23 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Brendon Sharratt2:16:17
2Ethan Glover0:05:42
3Brent Miller0:12:17
DNFAlex McGregorRow 3 - Cell 2
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Elite & Under 23 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Amy Laird1:47:22
2Sara MacDonald0:00:48
3Samara Sheppard0:02:16
4Sara Taylor0:04:27
5Bridget Keegan0:04:43
6Erin Greene0:05:06
7Cathy Hamer0:07:24
8Anja McDonald0:07:47
9Hannah Thorne0:08:47
10Adrienne Hooper0:15:36
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Under 19 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Bradley Hudson1:53:00
2Locky McArthur0:01:56
3Tom Bradshaw0:03:07
4Logan Horn0:03:15
5Thomas Prestidge0:22:17
-1lapJordan PearsonRow 5 - Cell 2
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Master 1 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Chris Taylor1:50:56
2Matt Amos0:02:58
3Ross McCulloch0:08:11
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Master 1 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Andrea Murray1:37:57
2Melissa Newell0:03:46
3Pam Thompson0:09:12
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Master 2 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Blair Stuthridge1:44:11
2Nick Spencer0:00:16
3Ray Hope0:02:08
4Andy MacDonald0:12:18
5Craig Buist0:34:25
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Master 3 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Neil Averis2:00:15
2Hamish Grant0:14:28
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Senior men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Matty Graham1:52:22
2Lance Griffin0:04:59
3Ben Shaler0:09:22
4Stephen Blissett0:13:44
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Senior women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Sarah Hughes1:43:08
2Celia Lie0:08:14
3Emma Prestidge0:18:07
4Pippa Holdom0:34:08
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Junior under 17 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Craig Oliver1:41:01
2Jake Glover0:02:34
3Sean Hambrook0:04:38
4Jonty Sanders0:07:18
5Jacob Stuthridge0:13:49
6Hayden Cleminson0:15:35
7Fraser Brown0:40:39
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Junior Under 17 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mary Gray1:33:57
2Caitlin Holmes0:10:07
3Kayley Murdoch0:14:36
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Junior Under 15 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Charlie Murray1:17:38
2Ben Oliver0:05:01
3Craig Murray0:13:22
4Mitchell Campbell0:22:41
5Lachie McGregor0:54:06
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Junior Under 15 women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Samantha Hope1:06:56
2Laura Bridger0:03:22

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