Brannigan bookends the Cup Series

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.

The elite men's category has provided close and extremely tight racing right through the New Zealand MTB Cup this summer, and Napier's race was no exception. The level and depth of the field was again high this weekend, despite several of New Zealand's World Cup athletes not competing - eight different nationalities represented with many of these athletes travelling onto South Africa for the start of the 2012 UCI World Cup.

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