Jonnier dominates women's race

Racing in Saturday's downhill round for of the New Zealand Mountain Bike Cup was held in hot and muggy conditions in Rotorua's Whakarerwarewa Forest.

The course was in perfect condition for the Friday practice day for downhill competitors, and by the time racing started at 1:00 pm on Saturday, the course presented ideal traction conditions to compliment the physically demanding descent.

Levin's Nathan Rankin again set the benchmark in the morning seeding run for the elite men's field, as he did in the previous New Zealand Cup round in Nelson. As fastest and last man down the hill, Rankin had the ideal opportunity to follow through; however, his old team mate, Wanganui's Glenn Haden had other ideas.

Haden has been absent from national-level competiton for over 12 months after injury derailed his 2009 season. His come-back performance at this fourth round showed he has lost none of the fire and determination that he has shown through a long career at the top of the sport in New Zealand and internationally. Haden took the win by a narrow margin over Tauranga's Hayden Lee and Rotorua's Des Curry. All three riders finished on the same second and less than half a second apart.

The women's elite downhill race provided another display of World Cup Champion Sabrina Jonnier's superb power and control. Frenchwoman Jonnier won ahead of New Zealand National Champion Harriet Harper by over 12 seconds. It was a disappointing race for local Gabby Molloy. An over the bars crash during race run ended what had been a promising build-up to posting a quick time.

Several other riders turned heads over the weekend with times that would have placed them in the top 10 of the elite field, no mean feat on this race course. Jay Barrett and Louis Hamilton were first and second in the Under 17 men's category, and were also seventh and eighth overall.

Richard Leacock won the senior men's race, and continued a strong run of form with a sixth fastest overall time from the 156 competitors.

The next round of the New Zealand Mountain Bike Cup will happen this weekend the downhill taking place at Summer Hills MTB Park in Tauranga on Friday and Saturday February 12 and 13 the cross country happening at the Pukete MTB Park in Hamilton on Sunday, February 14.

Full Results