The action was intense on the Signal Hill tracks as part of the opening round of the national series that doubled as the first race in the UCI continental series.
Patches of rain on Saturday threatened to make the cross-country course a little tacky, but it held up well, while the downhill riders struck excellent conditions yesterday.
A star attraction on Saturday was Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist Anton Cooper.
He is seeking a rebound season after battling an illness last year that ruled him out of the Paris Olympics.
Cooper won the elite men’s cross-country in Dunedin but he really had to battle for victory.
He and fellow Canterbury rider Ben Oliver were locked in a sprint finish as they neared the end of the race on the seventh lap, and Cooper had just enough gas to sneak ahead.
Cooper was credited with a gun time of 1hr 31min 35sec, just 1sec ahead of Oliver. Australian mountain biker Sam Fox was third and Otago rider Ethan Glover fourth.
"It was super-fast and muddy. To battle with Ben Oliver for seven laps was what I expected to happen," Cooper said.
"To be honest it could have gone either way. Ben was possibly slightly stronger than me today. It was one of those courses — on the second half of the course there was not much you could do but recover, so I made the pace up the climb quite fast."
The elite women’s race was a little more clearcut.
Sammie Maxwell was a controversial omission from the original New Zealand squad for the Olympics before winning an appeal, making the trip to Paris and finishing a creditable eighth.
The Taupo star looked at her consistent best on Saturday as she posted a fastest lap of 14min 30sec and won with a gun time of 1hr 30min 3sec.
Australian Olympian Rebecca Henderson was second in 1hr 34min 11sec, and former Dunedin rider Mary Gray was third in 1hr 42min 35sec.
"You are never sure of your form starting off," Maxwell said.
"I made a mistake on the third lap and got gaped by Rebecca Henderson. I closed it and kept going — so the cards were played pretty early on, which was exciting for me.
"It is always incredible racing with Bec — she pushes me and I push her and it brings the best out of each other."
Yesterday, a trio of under-19 riders set the standard in the downhill.
Canterbury rider Oli Clark was the overall champion, flying down the course in 2min 45.56sec.
Fellow under-19 riders Tyler Waite (Hawke’s Bay) and Jonty Williamson (Manawatu) rounded out the overall podium with 2min 49.29sec and 2min 50.31sec respectively.
"The run was good as the track had dried out a lot from the seeding run," Clark said.
"I made a few mistakes at the top, so I was pretty angry and rode fast at the bottom and happy with the result."
Sam Gale (Nelson) was the best of the men’s elite riders at 2min 52.03sec, and Bellah Birchall (Rotorua) was the leading woman at 3min 53.74sec.
Mountain Biking Otago organiser Greg Bouwer reflected with pride on a weekend of top-quality action.
"It’s all gone sensationally smoothly and everyone seemed to be super happy," Bouwer said.
"The weather was a wee bit challenging on Saturday, but it didn’t end up impacting the cross-country all that much, and the weather turned out brilliantly for the downhill.
"It’s been a fantastic weekend of mountain biking."
A fractured wrist during Saturday’s racing was the worst injury sustained at the weekend, Bouwer said.
Dunedin again showed it was a quality venue for a full round of the national series.
"We’ve got the ability to run doubleheaders like this, which isn’t always the case everywhere.
"We’ve got a unique venue in Signal Hill, and a brilliant crew of volunteers helping to host it."
The second round of the national cross-country series is in Taupō this Sunday, and the third and final round is at the Te Miro track, near Hamilton, on January 26.
Downhill riders get the thrill of flying down Coronet Peak this weekend before completing their series at the Rivenrock track, near Masterton, on January 26.
