Paris Olympian Sammie Maxwell and talented teenager Coen Nicol slid their way to cross-country honours in the final round of the Mountain Bike New Zealand national series at Te Miro, near Cambridge.
Heavy and persistent rain turned the cross-country course into a slippery challenge for all on Sunday, but Nicol made full use of his cyclocross skills to claim the elite and under-23 race in 1hr 23min 6sec.
After placing second in the second round at his home track in Taupo, Nicol reversed the placings on Sunday to finish more than 2min ahead of Auckland rider Matthew Wilson. Hunter Adams, of Hamilton, was a further 2min back in third.
"It was pretty much a case of just trying to stay upright and keep it smooth," Nicol said.
"I think I only crashed three times, but everyone was in the same boat and I was happy to bring it back to the finish safely."
Maxwell won the elite and under-23 women’s race in 1hr 12min 31sec, nearly 7min clear of Cantabrians Maria Laurie and Annabel Bligh.
It made for a clean sweep for Maxwell after the Decathlon Ford professional won both the opening round in Dunedin, which doubled as the Oceania championships, and the second round.
"It was good practice for the world cups in Europe because I often get freaked out and nervous in wet conditions so
I had some slick tyres on and it was good to practise," she said.
"It was super wet but the course was really good and the mud was not tacky.
"And it was good to take the win again and take the series."
Maxwell changes to the road bike for the national championships in Timaru in two weeks before racing in Australia and returning for the mountain bike national championships in Rotorua.
She will then prepare for the UCI world cup campaign starting in Brazil.
The downhill riders completed their national series in the Wairarapa on a super-dry course in Rivenrock in Takarua Forest Park.
It is the first time a national series downhill race has been staged on the relatively new course and the dry and rocky conditions provided a challenging test.
Nelson professional Sam Gale, who spends the European offseason in Queenstown, claimed his second elite title of the series.
He was the top elite rider in Dunedin, in fourth place overall, and was fifth in the second round at Coronet Peak last weekend.
Gale was second-fastest elite and fifth-fastest overall in the seeding run but showed his class to blitz his way to the overall honours in 3min 18.59sec, the only rider under 3min 19sec in the final.
Palmerston North rider Jonty Williamson, last year’s under-17 national schools champion, was second and fellow junior rider Seppy Binsbergen, of New Plymouth, was third.
Queenstown junior Indy Deavoll prevailed in the female final, winning in 3min 50.24sec, ahead of promising Rotorua rider Bellah Birchall just over 1sec behind.
Wellington under-17 rider Capella Martin was third.
- By Ian Hepenstall
