The Queenstown downhill mountain bike rider battled it out at Bike Glendhu, near Wanaka, at the weekend to claim gold in the Crankworx Summer Series Wanaka Women’s Elite Dual Slalom.
With less than a second between the top four qualifiers Harriet Burbidge-Smith, Louise Ferguson, Jenna Hastings and Blewitt, competition was tight.
Burbidge-Smith had to pull out due to illness leaving Blewitt and Ferguson to battle it out in the finals.
Despite having never raced dual slalom, Blewitt took home the gold with a combined time of 1hr 12min 26sec ahead of Ferguson’s 1hr 12min 31sec.
Blewitt had entered for fun and had not expected to take the win, she said.
"First time doing a dual slalom race so I thought I would just give it a go and have some fun. I didn’t really think that I would get first place, and I was going to be happy either way as long as I was having fun which I did. I’m pretty stoked to take that top spot.
"It was some tight racing between Louise and I in the finals, I love racing with her."
Reigning King of Crankworx Bas van Steenbergen, continued his winning form into the finals.
Matched against New Zealand rider and 2021 Crankworx Summer Series Dual Slalom elite male winner Tuhoto-Ariki Pene in the final, the Canadian had his work cut out for him with the New Zealander in hot pursuit during both rounds.
However he managed to hold it together and take the win with a time of 1hr 2min 67sec.
"I’m stoked and it’s obviously exactly how I wanted my season to start," van Steenbergen said of his first place finish.
Crankworx moves to Cardrona for the downhill competition on Wednesday and Thursday.
