There are 270 riders who will contest the two-day championships, starting with cross-country races tomorrow before downhill competition and the second national short-track cross-country titles on Sunday.
It is the second straight year that the championships
been held in the South.
World under-23 cross-country champion New Zealander Sammie Maxwell and compatriot Erice van Leuven, the junior women’s downhill world titleholder, will be bound to attract a following.
Cross-country action will feature Trek Factory rider Anton Cooper who will be chasing his ninth elite men’s title and keen to produce a performance of quality as he presses his claims for selection for the Paris Olympic Games.
"Training is going well, although I have not had much time at home, having come back quite late from Europe and then we had a team camp in Spain last month.
"Last year I came into this event sick and should not have competed as I hadn’t ridden for a month in the lead-up before it.
"I’m happy with where I am at for this stage."
Cooper’s competition will come from good friend Ben Oliver, who is back from winning the Hero Series event in Abu Dhabi, defending champion Matt Wilson, and Southland rider Josh Burnett, equally talented on the road after winning the UCI Gravel & Tar race recently.
Canterbury’s Ethan Rose, who has been signed for the Trek Future pro team this year, returns from his excellent podium effort in Abu Dhabi, and should dominate the under-23 competition.
Maxwell, who signed for the Decathlon Ford pro team late last year, is favoured to head the combined women’s under-23 and elite field for a fourth successive time, but should be challenged by 2020 winner Josie Wilcox (Nelson).
Local rider Toby Meek will defend the elite downhill title on Sunday against a strong field headed by New Zealand’s highest-ranked rider, Tuhoto-Ariki Pene, who is 31st in the world, and the fifth-ranked world enduro rider Charlie Murray (Wanaka).
There will be many looking at 20-year-old Lachie Stevens-McNab, back in outstanding form after two injury-plagued years. He has won all four rounds of the national gravity series this summer.
Hometown star Jess Blewitt, 21, is chasing her fourth straight elite women’s downhill title.
Her main competition could come from 2022 junior world champion Jenna Hastings (Rotorua).
Blewitt moves to the Cube Factory pro team this year, while Hastings rides for Pivot Factory.
The junior downhill will receive plenty of attention with the appearance of world champion van Leuven and fellow 2023 world championship podium placegetters Pappy Lane (Mt Maunganui) and Sacha Earnest (Auckland).
