Blenkinsop and Atkin win Oceania downhill titles
By Cycling News
Watkins and Petrie win junior championships
Sam Blenkinsop and Sarah Atkin battled mud and rain to win the downhill elite titles at Mt Hutt on the final day of the Oceania Mountain Bike Championships.
Persistent rain fell from last night, which caused the track to become muddy and slippery, with officials running the elite downhill races first in case worsening weather forced a cancellation.
Men
With current national champion George Brannigan out with injury, top seeds Cameron Cole, Brook MacDonald, Sam Blenkinsop and Edward Masters negotiated the slippery track, with times 30 seconds slower than qualifying in dry conditions.
World number five ranked Blenkinsop, who rides for Lapierre International, was well-pleased with his 3:21.23 win in the miserable conditions.
"It was pretty gnarly. Even after yesterday's practice I thought the last section was pretty sketchy, I didn't know how half the field was getting down it," said Blenkinsop.
"For all this rain the top was fine, it was pretty much the same as riding in the dry, but just this last bit on the hard clay was hard to judge where you could push it."
"I just kinda rode easy, tried not to make any mistakes at the bottom, I knew that was the place where I could either win or lose the race, so I just tried to ride smooth, and it worked out for me."
With both Cole and MacDonald achieving faster qualifying times, Blenkinsop knew he had to produce a top effort today.
"Cam rode really good yesterday, put two seconds into me and Brook, I knew he was feeling comfortable on his bike again."
Blenkinsop's next goal is to podium at the first round of the World Cup in South Africa before the World Cup moves to Cairns.
Masters was second with 3:23.78 ahead of Cole on 3:24.26. Strong contender MacDonald was just a fraction slower, earning fourth place with 3:24.66.
Women
Having recently earned her first national title, Sarah Atkin was once again in a class of her own with a time of 4:25.43, 30 seconds ahead of her closest rival, New Zealand's Veronique Sandler.
"It was good fun as long as you weren't taking it too seriously, I was just pretty much trying to get down without crashing," said Atkin.
"Yesterday was awesome, today was just slippery. Above the bridge it was all good, but then down here was just mud, just trying to hold on pretty much."
Sandler was second with 4:55.27 ahead of New Zealand compatriot Sophie Tyas on 4:59.51.
New Zealand's Ben Watkins took the U19 title in 3:50.17, with New Zealand's Georgia Petrie taking the U19 women's title in 5:28.11.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Samuel Blenkinsop (New Zealand) | 0:03:21.23 |
2 | Edward Masters (New Zealand) | 0:00:02.55 |
3 | Cameron Cole (New Zealand) | 0:00:03.03 |
4 | Brook MacDonald (New Zealand) | 0:00:03.43 |
5 | Rupert Chapman (New Zealand) | 0:00:06.52 |
6 | Wyn Masters (New Zealand) | 0:00:09.99 |
7 | Matthew Walker (New Zealand) | 0:00:15.09 |
8 | Reece Potter (New Zealand) | 0:00:15.19 |
9 | Nick McConachie (New Zealand) | 0:00:19.09 |
10 | Reon Boe (New Zealand) | 0:00:22.04 |
11 | Tom Matthews (New Zealand) | 0:00:22.23 |
12 | Tyler Brooker (New Zealand) | 0:00:26.58 |
12 | Maxime Chapuis (Switzerland) | 0:00:28.25 |
13 | Raphael Kammlein-Cutler (New Zealand) | 0:00:29.26 |
14 | Lawrence Cawte (New Zealand) | 0:00:29.79 |
15 | Berend Boer (Australia) | 0:00:30.12 |
16 | Stefan Gardner (New Zealand) | 0:00:30.43 |
17 | Jamie Lyall (New Zealand) | 0:00:31.75 |
18 | James Hampton (New Zealand) | 0:00:33.94 |
19 | Matt Hardwick (Australia) | 0:00:34.76 |
20 | Daniel Meilink (New Zealand) | 0:00:36.71 |
21 | Mat Prior (New Zealand) | 0:00:37.75 |
22 | Thomas Crimmins (Australia) | 0:00:39.14 |
23 | Louis Hamilton (New Zealand) | 0:00:39.83 |
24 | Jesse Beare Croydon, VIC, AUS | 0:00:40.95 |
25 | Daniel Hallam (Australia) | 0:00:41.02 |
26 | Kyle Lockwood (New Zealand) | 0:00:42.73 |
27 | Mitchell Bryant (Australia) | 0:00:44.22 |
28 | Sean McCarroll (New Zealand) | 0:00:45.21 |
29 | Rowan Saunders (New Zealand) | 0:01:02.68 |
30 | Ben Crundwell (New Zealand) | 0:01:02.79 |
31 | Hayden Poptie (Australia) | 0:01:58.68 |
DNF | Jack Moir (Australia) | |
DNF | Matthew Scoles (New Zealand) | |
DNF | Kieran Bennett (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Rhys Atkinson (Australia) | |
DNS | Carl Edmondson (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Kieran Thompson (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Guillaume Cauvin (France) | |
DNS | Quentin Chanudet (France) | |
DNS | Fabien Cousinie (France) | |
DNS | Bernard Kerr (Great Britain) | |
DNS | Felix Klee (Switzerland) | |
DNS | Reuben Miller (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Kepler Rek (New Zealand) |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Sarah Atkin (New Zealand) | 0:04:25.43 |
2 | Veronique Sandler (New Zealand) | 0:00:29.84 |
3 | Sophie Tyas (New Zealand) | 0:00:34.08 |
4 | Alanna Columb (New Zealand) | 0:00:39.36 |
5 | Amanda Monk (New Zealand) | 0:03:55.15 |
DNF | Morgane Charre (France) | |
DNS | Harriet Latchem (New Zealand) |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Ben Watkins (New Zealand) | 0:03:50.17 |
2 | Connor Hamilton (New Zealand) | 0:00:02.73 |
3 | Keegan Wright (New Zealand) | 0:00:06.54 |
4 | Josh McCombie (New Zealand) | 0:00:10.32 |
5 | Connor Sandri (New Zealand) | 0:00:13.50 |
6 | Peter Bethell (New Zealand) | 0:00:14.41 |
7 | Gareth Burgess (New Zealand) | 0:00:16.26 |
8 | Kim Newton (New Zealand) | 0:00:16.58 |
9 | Jack Humphries (New Zealand) | 0:00:18.17 |
10 | Jack Fisher (New Zealand) | 0:00:25.89 |
11 | Matt Lawton (New Zealand) | 0:00:31.45 |
12 | Corey Milne (New Zealand) | 0:00:39.03 |
13 | Carl Goodwin (New Zealand) | 0:00:39.80 |
14 | Robert Todhunter (New Zealand) | 0:00:53.21 |
15 | Sam Todd (New Zealand) | 0:00:55.37 |
16 | Jake Shirley (New Zealand) | 0:00:56.55 |
17 | Antoine Gondouin (New Zealand) | 0:01:00.35 |
18 | DJ Holmes (New Zealand) | 0:01:01.97 |
19 | Zac Porter (New Zealand) | 0:01:59.49 |
DNF | Kale Edwards (New Zealand) | |
DNS | William Todhunter (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Erwan Dedieu (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Caleb Ellis (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Rod Hall (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Enrick Parage (New Zealand) | |
DNS | Jordan Shadbolt (New Zealand) |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Georgia Petrie (New Zealand) | 0:05:28.11 |
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