The NZ MTB Cup wrapped up in Napier. The venue added some variability with weather and race course conditions over the three days of competition - the major rain storm covering New Zealand on Wednesday left challenging conditions in the Pan Pac Eskdale Forest which didn't completely dry out. Adaptation was the key for all competitors, and all category winners displayed an ability to react quickly to the constantly changing race courses.
Sunday's cross country races in Napier were a repeat of the previous round in Wellington for the elite winners. The elite women's field chased Whakatane's Karen Hanlen from the start gun, and quickly lost contact with the Cup leader during the first two laps. Hanlen simply stretched her lead throughout the rest of the five lap feature to win by a large margin from Rotorua's Samara Sheppard. Hanlen has not been beaten this summer, and took her perfect record through to a NZ MTB Cup championship title for 2012.
The elite men's race was a close contest between NZ's top three riders this summer, Dirk Peters, Carl Jones and Mike Northcott. The three were locked together through their first three laps, before Peters wound on the pressure early in the fourth to work his way out to a 30-second lead that stretched even further during the fifth. Peter's challenge prompted Northcott to crank into action, with the highly experienced Tokoroa plumber again finding late race pace to claw back at Peter's lead - however just a little too late with Peters winning again to take the NZ MTB Cup championship title for 2012.
Hanlen and Peters have both completed a coveted double this summer - winning the 2012 National Championship and NZ MTB Cup titles.
The U19 junior men's race was missing star attraction Anton Cooper, but this didn't diminish the quality of the race. Cambridge's Sam Gaze, who has been the revelation of this category in the North Island rounds won easily, and just as Cooper has been doing all summer, Gaze produced the fastest lap time of the day while circulating at a pace comparable to the elite leaders. Gaze has high asprirations and goals with this sport, and takes a fantastic level of confidence with him from Napier and into the rest of 2012.
Full Results
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Elite men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Dirk Peters (NZl)
1:40:49
2
Mike Northcott (NZl)
0:00:24
3
Carl Jones (NZl)
0:01:02
4
Brad Hudson (NZl)
0:02:42
5
Samuel Shaw (NZl)
0:04:03
6
Mathew Waghorn (NZl)
0:05:03
7
Patrick Luthi (Swi)
0:06:37
8
Josh Page (NZl)
0:06:38
9
Max Houtzager (USA)
0:07:24
10
Bradley Setters (NZl)
0:09:58
11
Mark Dunlop (NZl)
0:11:06
12
Adrian Retief (NZl)
0:13:09
13
Nick Miller (NZl)
0:13:38
14
Mailes Davies (NZl)
0:14:12
15
Brendon Sharratt (NZl)
0:14:26
16
Luke Osborne (NZl)
0:14:54
17
Dominic Forkert (NZl)
Row 16 - Cell 2
18
Alex Robertson (NZl)
Row 17 - Cell 2
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Elite women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Karen Hanlen (NZl)
1:34:08
2
Samara Sheppard (NZl)
0:04:33
3
Katherine O Neil (NZl)
0:06:11
4
Bridget Lodge (NZl)
0:07:55
5
Jeanette Gerrie (NZl)
0:08:45
6
Kate Fluker (NZl)
0:10:22
7
Sasha Smith (NZl)
0:10:25
8
Katrine Gellatly (NZl)
0:11:53
9
Nic Leary (NZl)
0:13:27
10
Celine Ernst (Swi)
Row 9 - Cell 2
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U19 men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Samuel Gaze (NZl)
1:24:15
2
Nigel McDowell (NZl)
0:03:25
3
Brett Stockman (NZl)
0:07:35
4
Josh Parkin (NZl)
0:07:39
5
Ryan Hunt (NZl)
0:11:35
6
Simon Lawson (NZl)
0:11:45
7
Frank Sutton (NZl)
0:14:07
8
Elliot Pearce (NZl)
0:15:37
9
Guy Hirst (NZl)
0:19:15
10
Daniel Terpstra (NZl)
Row 9 - Cell 2
DNF
Sam Bamford (NZl)
Row 10 - Cell 2
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U19 women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Amber Johnston (NZl)
1:28:41
2
Toshiko Knight (NZl)
0:08:39
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Masters 1 men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Mark Leishman
1:33:22
2
Karl Paterson
0:02:24
3
Gavin McCarthy
0:04:03
4
John Kirkcaldie
0:06:28
5
Jonty Taylor
0:07:16
6
Jared Scollay
0:13:56
7
Nathan Strong
Row 6 - Cell 2
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Masters 2 men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Stephen Owens
1:43:37
2
Dan Kellow
0:02:41
3
Stephen Grenside
0:05:29
4
Richard Trask
0:07:36
5
Jerome Sheppard
0:11:03
6
John McRae
Row 5 - Cell 2
7
Steven Lawson
Row 6 - Cell 2
8
Tom Bamford
Row 7 - Cell 2
9
Paul Gouldsbrough
Row 8 - Cell 2
DNF
Carl Johnston
Row 9 - Cell 2
DNF
Greg Bott
Row 10 - Cell 2
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Masters 3 men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Paul McDowell
1:25:24
2
Peter Reynolds
0:02:31
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U17 men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Gareth Cannon
1:14:48
2
Jack Compton
0:00:43
3
Cameron Howell
0:02:58
4
Tom Coombes
0:03:00
5
Ethan Jacobs
0:05:04
6
Andrew Bamford
0:06:19
7
Peter Bethell
0:08:23
8
Sam Dakin
0:08:40
9
Nathan Johnston
0:11:45
10
Ryan Craggs
0:15:14
DNF
Alex Beaven
Row 10 - Cell 2
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Senior women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Monique Avery
1:31:13
2
Kathryn Campbell
0:11:45
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Masters 1 women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Megan Dimozantos
1:36:08
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U17 women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Harriet Beaven
1:06:02
2
Jemma Manchester
0:00:29
3
Olivia Miller
0:04:39
4
Elizabeth Stannard
0:06:58
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Masters 3 women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Sarah Beadel
1:15:33
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U15 men
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Robert Stannard
1:02:33
2
Paul Wright
0:01:07
3
Conor McRae
0:05:06
4
Henry Carr
0:10:20
5
Lewis Ryan
0:12:09
6
Jake Craggs
0:12:59
7
Joe Sutton
0:13:07
8
Taylor Johnston
0:18:51
DNS
Connor Johnston
Row 8 - Cell 2
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U15 women
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Zia MacDermid
0:45:05
New Zealand Cross Country Cup final standings
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