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There was an autumn nip in the air when the first happy campers crawled out of sleeping bags in their tents at the Piopio school grounds to begin preparations for their day of racing in the 2008 King Country Challenge. Nothing that a warm jacket and a hot coffee couldn't dispel. But the forecast showers showed no sign of arriving and eventually held off all day, making for a fast dry course like last year.
Most riders hugely enjoyed the course for its scenic beauty, its interesting challenges and its lack of mud, brought on by the big dry spell which has been such a setback for the farmers this year.
The 50k got under way at 9.30am with Chris Gaze and his Hamilton Mountain Bike Clubmate, Kent Crawford hitting the lead before they even got off the school field. These two remained in control at the front for the rest of the race. At about 30kms Gaze managed to put a bit of a gap between them. He lead from there to the finish but says he was constantly expecting to see Crawford catching up and went all out to maintain his lead, right through to the finish, thus achieving an excellent time for the course. The two leaders both made a course error at one point climbing a hill that was not in the course. Despite this, Gaze's time was 7 minutes faster than last year. Meanwhile Crawford had hit "the wall" a few ks from the finish and struggled home at what felt to him like survival pace, but because of the size of their break on the rest of the field, created by their fast early pace, he was still easily able to hold on to second place. Third was Jared Scollay.
Leading woman in the 50k race was Bridget Ray who had a good hard race, falling off once when she bailed while approaching a bank. 2nd was Anne Mortimer, with Hillary Wicks 3rd.
The very promising young Waikato rider, Jack Chapman, also from the Hamilton Mountain Bike Club, was the clear winner of the 37k race after leading all the way. Hans Meys came in 2nd with Neville Laverack 3rd. Sheryl Hanratty was the first woman in the 37k race, followed by Clare McDermid 2nd and Wendy O'Brian 3rd.
In the 20k race, last year's winner, young Sam Gaze, was out of the running early on with mechanical problems. Larry Beesley took the lead a few ks into the race, just as the riders hit the first of the paddocks. He lead from there to the finish. The 2nd pacegetter, young Haydn Cresswell, fought and won a good battle with the 3rd rider who was also the first woman, Tui Allen. Liam Binns was the third male rider. 2nd woman was Kirsty Reeves with Jo Johnston 3rd.
The children's races were a big hit with excellent turnouts. First boy in the 13k race was James Keeling with Shaun Masters 2nd and Finn Maunsell 3rd. First girl was Carly Hesp with Alice Petre 2nd and Rachel Stilborn 3rd.
Youngest rider of the day was was four-year old James MacDermid who completed the 10k race with Dad's big strong helping hand at centre-back being a great support especially on the uphills. Dad's support may also have contributed to James's fresh-faced appearance at the finish. (See photos) He certainly looked the part being fully kitted out like a pro-racer with camel-pak and all the gear. Not only did it look incredibly cute, but if early conditioning is what it takes, this child will be an Olympic MTB rider in a few years. Interestingly the first rider in the 10k race was a girl - Alice Walmsley who beat the first boy by nearly 2 minutes. 2nd girl was Harriet Boucher with Christina Wallbank 3rd. First boy was Thomas Keeling with Nathanael Wrack 2nd and Harry Petre 3rd.,
Wendy and Andy Gilbert impressed everyone by completing the 50k race on a tandem mountain-bike.
The Gibb family won the teams event in what was their very first mountainbike race ever. In fact for young Paige Gibb it was the first time she had ever ridden off-road. Yet she proved fittest on the day in spite of being the only one of the family to have a crash. All four family members rode together for the whole of the 20k course.
As in previous years, the post-race spit-roasted lamb was delicious. The home-baked brownies were tasty and cheap and the coffee and cold drinks were plentiful and refreshing. The whole environment was idyllic as can be seen from the photos and the whole family atmosphere was fun-filled and zany from the beginning to the end of the day. The kids ran wild on bikes and had a marvellous time. Prize-giving was held under the shade of big old trees on the bank of the school field and the time between finishing and prize-giving was perfect for replenishing the carbs while socialising there in the shade with all the old acquaintances you meet up with every year.
There were so many great spot-prizes, there can't have been many people left who did not get one. The child's bike prize was fittingly won by a boy whose bike had let him down mechanically during the race.
Full results are available here on our Results page.
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