MTB

Stern test awaits Kiwi mountain bikers at Oceania Champs in Queenstown

By Sports Media NZ

New Zealand mountain bikers face the best from Australia and around the region in the 2016 Stonewood Homes UCI Oceania Mountain Bike Championships in Queenstown over the weekend.

World number eight Dan McConnell and former world number one ranked under-23 rider Rebecca Henderson lead a powerful Australian cross-country contingent crossing the Tasman for the championships at the Queenstown Bike Park at Skyline.

Both Australians will defend their Oceania honours won in Queensland last year with McConnell, who has been as high as number five in the world over cross-country, looking to make it three Oceania titles in a row.

The men’s cross-country showdown should be a massive race with Waikato’s Sam Gaze winning the national championship over under-23 world champion Anton Cooper in Wanaka last weekend.
The pair will resume battle with McConnell thrown into the mix. The last time the trio were at the head of a race was the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 when Cooper prevailed over Gaze and McConnell.

While the Continental title is a rewarding trophy for the mantelpiece, for both Gaze and Cooper it is the battle within a battle as they eye the likely one spot available for the Rio Olympics.

Queenstown’s Kate Fluker gets to compete on home turf this weekend as she chases her first Oceania honours. She will gain a good measure on her early season progress when she takes on Henderson, who has been in sparkling early season form with four wins in the Australian national series and the national championship.


Sam Gaze leads Dan McConnell and Anton Cooper at the Commonwealth Games mountain bike race in Glasgow in 2014. Photo © Guy Swarbrick

There is also a smattering of national champions from both sides of the Tasman set to do battle in the other age groups, which has also attracted riders from throughout the region including Guam and Tahiti.
The championships begin with the downhill competition on Saturday where Hawkes Bay professional George Brannigan will be hot favourite after a crash last weekend ruled him out of competing in Wanaka.

Brannigan, the 2015 national champion, will be sporting his new Commencal machine after joining the Commencal Vallnord DH Racing Team this year.

Local star Alanna Columb will be looking to continue her strong start to the season after defending her national title in Wanaka last weekend.

Columb pushed into the top 12 riders in the world last year and chase the continental title as she looks to compete in the full World Cup season in Europe this year.

The championships, part of the annual Queenstown Bike Festival, begin with the Eliminator competition from 5pm on Friday, with downhill racing from 1pm on Saturday. The cross-country racing is on Sunday with age group men and Masters from 9am, women (elite, under-23 and junior) from 11am and the men (elite, under-23 and junior) from 1.30pm.