Signal hill has been the home of Downhill in Dunedin since way back. And it was at this location that mountain biking Otago decided to hold a bicycle race, a race where riders would race down signal hill against the clock…..

 

The Signal Hill downhill race was held on the 8th of November and was very successful. With a turnout of around 60 riders; the stage was set. Seasoned pro riders fresh off their everyday jobs even made an appearance to sign autographs and do the things pro mountain bikers do. Hayden ‘Donny’ Macgregor got some much needed time away from the paint fumes and entered aboard his trusty twin shock motorbike. It was interesting to see that Matt Scoles had also jumped on the 2 shocks bandwagon and was seen riding his new Corsair DH bike. Talk of the day however was that not-quite Junior World champ Ant Jackson had dusted off the cobwebs and had entered aboard ‘Duncan’.

 

The week leading up to the race had been quite an ordeal in terms of weather. We had had sun, wind, hail, sleet and snow. All of this carried on right up until the night before the race and left the track quite slick, but the a little local knowledge hinted that with dry weather throughout Saturday the track would be fine for the race.

 

That morning we awoke to glorious blue sky and that’s how it stayed. First run down the track it was quite wet and slippery but each run form there on in got dryer and dryer. The new/old track was proving to be a hit with the riders especially the new bottom section which was also visible for spectators too. In what I think would be a world first we actually got more than ten spectators that weren’t racers!

 

Thanks to slick transport riders were almost ready to begin race runs by 1pm. Unlucky for me though I had to do my first two runs back to back as I had an exam at 2.30. The first two runs went without a hitch and luckily for me I made it to my exam. After returning from my exam I found that local ripper Leighton kirk had taken out the junior class and that donny had ripped out a blistering 2.53 to be six seconds ahead of me in Open men. I began to think maybe I need two shocks. We then rolled onto the tope ten shoot in which the top ten fastest riders across all classes went up for another un to battle it out for $100. In this race I was lucky to take the win after a crash in my run, when I got the bottom I thought donny would take it but unlucky for him he went down within sight of the finish.

 

All in all it was a sick race and I cant wait for nationals to roll around in January.If the track is dry you will need some big balls to takt the win here…

 

Thanks to all the people who helped build the track through the winter and helped run in the race.Also thanks to my sponsors for helping me.,,

 

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