The New Zealand Mountain Bike National Champs got underway with supporting events on Thursday, and UCI category CN events on Friday night and Saturday in the Dunedin locations of Signal Hill and Forrester Park. MTBNZ made the difficult decision to proceed with the event after the devastating Christchurch earthquake, in the interests of the Christchurch mountain bike riders and their families, who appreciated the brief distraction and the support the event community was able to provide for competition week.
Always a specialty discipline, the hill climb event up Signal Hill from the Logan High School staging area drew a small but quality field to start the championships programe off.
In the men's competition, the highly experienced Gavin McCarthy clung onto to new mountain bike junior bolter Tom Filmer for as long as he could up the steep Signal Hill course, but had no answer for the young rider who claimed first finisher honours as well as a junior national championship title with his 12 minute, 12 second climb. McCarthy had to be content with a Championship title in the senior men's category, still no mean feat.
In the women's race, Queenstown's Kate Fluker cleared out to win by over a minute from Raewyn Morrison, and was never threatened for her championship title.
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Filmer | 0:12:12 |
| 2 | Gareth Cannon | 0:01:53 |
| 3 | Frank Sutton | 0:03:08 |
| DNS | Tom Bradshaw | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gavin McCarthy | 0:13:05 |
| 2 | Luke Osborne | 0:00:12 |
| 3 | Tim Rush | 0:01:18 |
| 4 | Brandon Sbordone | 0:10:11 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kate Fluker | 0:16:16 |
| 2 | Raewyn Morrison | 0:01:04 |
| DNS | Karen Hanlen | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
-
'The last 5 kilometres were horrible' – Tom Pidcock embraces pain as Q36.5 Pro Cycling punch above weight in Vuelta a España team time trial
Brit's GC challenge well intact thanks to eighth place finish in Figueres, sits 30 seconds down on Vingegaard ahead of hardest mountain test yet on stage 6 -
Cycling transfers – All the latest news and announcements for the 2026 season
The ultimate guide to the pro cycling transfer window, tracking every move across the men's and women's WorldTours -
'We couldn't maintain it to the finish' – Ineos Grenadiers fade to fifth after rapid start to Vuelta a España TTT, but 'it was a really brave ride'
No regrets for British team in search of victory in Figueres, with leader Egan Bernal staying close on GC -
'Thursday is the first proper hard stage' - Jonas Vingegaard looks ahead to mountains after regaining Vuelta a España lead in team time trial
Teammate Matteo Jorgenson points to a 'misunderstanding' about tailwind as possibly impacting on TT
