SATURDAY 26TH AUGUST
//DAY.04
DH FINALS - KIWI WINS!!
PHOTOS BY MIKE HILL
EDDIES DIARIES
Get an insight as to what goes on inside the elite ranks of New Zealand's Junior Worlds Downhill Race Team with Taranaki celebrity Eddie Masters.
Cam Cole, AKA Frodo Baggins of NZRIDE fame brought home gold for the kiwis, followed closely by Sam Blekinsop, making it a Kiwi 1-2 in the Junior Men's class. The Kiwi's neighbours across the ditch dominated most of the top ten in the elite men's.
full race report below the results.
JOIN THE TEAM :
We're looking for contributors. Got something worth saying? Pictures worth showing? We want you - READ MORE HERE
TOP TEN ELITE MENS:
Course length : 2200 m / 1.37 Mile - Average Speed : 41.46 Kmh / 25.76 Mph
1. 3 AUS19850721 HILL Samuel AUS 1:44.59 3:11.03
2. 9 RSA19811113 MINNAAR Greg RSA 1:46.81 3:15.25 +4.22
3. 7 AUS19810531 RENNIE Nathan AUS 1:47.48 3:17.16 +6.13
4. 2 GBR19740617 PEAT Steve GBR 1:48.44 3:17.92 +6.89
5. 10 AUS19780301 KOVARIK Chris AUS 1:45.14 3:18.04 +7.01
6. 6 AUS19831121 HANNAH Michael AUS 1:48.21 3:19.21 +8.18
7. 8 FRA19780323 GRACIA Cédric FRA 1:48.37 3:19.73 +8.70
8. 11 FIN19840419 LEHIKOINEN Matti FIN 1:49.94 3:20.79 +9.76
9. 5 GBR19850226 ATHERTON Gee GBR 1:48.63 3:20.91 +9.88
10. 12 FRA19791011 PASCAL Mickael FRA 1:50.20 3:21.13 + 10.10
The weather was fine. The track was good. The junior girls went the way you’d expect with Sick Mick’s little sister Tracey Hannah taking gold.
After yesterday’s “Juddy dashes kiwi hopes” headline and the DQ exit of kiwi 4x contender John Kirkaldie all NZ medal expectations were now pinned on the Sam and Cam double – Sam Blenkinsop and Cameron Cole both good chances for the junior men’s podium.
Seeding 6th Cameron Cole took the hot seat with a time of 3:28.29, then had to endure the 5 more riders coming down the hill gunning for his top spot, including hot favourites Brendan Fairclough from the UK and of course Samuel Blenkinsop. Fairclough crashed out. Antoine Badouard of France came down fast but not fast enough two seconds off Cam’s time. Time seemed to stand still. Before you knew it the only rider left on the hill was the top seed and Cam’s self proclaimed nemesis…
… then the news came down the hill, Sam had crashed in the treacherous larches and was off 3 seconds at the split, but the look on Cams face in the hot seat told it all… he knew you can never write off Samuel B. There was a huge “oooh ahhh” from the crowd way up the hill as Sam hit another tree, but he was straight back on it. Breaking out of the woods into the final 200 meters Sam looked to be exactly on Cam’s time. Post crash he had had a blinder! Cam couldn’t even watch. The stadium was going wild. But two crashes had taken it out of Sam so his pedalling for the line was not his usual powerful stuff, and Cameron Cole (aka Frodo Baggins) had pulled it off. World Junior Champion. Sam was second. An NZ one-two. It was going off!
So there we were, what a strange thing. Sitting outside the Drug Testing room, with the rest of the world’s press, waiting for Frodo Baggins from Hamilton to finish going wees.
At the press conference NZride did our readers proud, asking Cameron if he thought there’d be a parade for him in Hamilton. He said apparently not, but I wouldn’t be surprised, New Zealand loves world champions. He’ll be on ads for meat like the Evers-Swindells before you know it.
The women’s race was expected to go to adopted kiwi and top seed Tracy Moseley but it wasn’t to be. Despite yesterdays dislocated shoulder Rachel Atherton held on to the hot seat for a long time, but was pipped by a blinder from France’s Sabrina Jonnier. Tracy came into the arena to a massive cheer but was not fast enough. Jonnier was world champion!
As the skies darkened only one question remained. Would Jonnier’s boyfriend Sam Hill take the downhill crown that many expected, or would one of the other many contenders make it their’s? Rennie? Peat? Minnaar? Gracia? After a nightmare seeding and subsequent very early run down the mountain Dan Atherton took the hot seat and then sat on it for about 40 more riders. As rain threatened I asked him if he was hoping for rain! Always the sportsman he replied, no, he wanted it to be the same for everyone. The lead changed a couple of times, and then suddenly out of nowhere came Kovarick with a blinder. What classic stuff; reminiscent of the first Fort Bill World Cup where he blew away all contenders. But he could only hold on for fourteen riders, because then in a time of 3:11.03 Sam knocked him off his seat. Hannah, then Beaumont, then Minnaar, then Peat, then Rennie. None of them could do it. Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier the fastest couple in the world!
NZRIDE REPORTER: MIKE CARDEN
4X: FRIDAY 25TH
RESULTS AND PHOTOS FROM THE 4X RACING
PLUS REPORT AND PHOTOS FROM MORNINGS DH PRACTICE
ROTO'06 DAY.03 REPORT
Report on events from day 3 - Wednesday. Top ten seeding times and kiwis.
We have interviews with the fastest elite men's and elite women's seeders of the day:
Well, it's all on now, the build up to the racing is on. Well, some of the racing has already begun if you're interested in riding round in circles on an xc bike - Switzerland took out the world Relay XC champs earlier today. I for one never knew there was such an event!
Practice is running on the DH and 4X tracks for the next couple of days, we then have the 4X race on Friday night, followed by the big event: The DH after party on saturday night, oh I mean the DH race on Saturday. (both guaranteed to be messy!)
We'll be bringing you daily updates and photos - Keep an eye on the diary page for the latest info. We've been catching up with some of the top riders and will bring you interviews over the next cople of days as well.
So Stay tuned...
ROTORUA DIARIES
A BUNCH OF PHOTOS FROM THURSDAY MORNING PRACTICE - SEEDING COMING THIS AFTERNOON.
THE FAKERS GUIDE TO XCO SPECTATING
Going to the world champs and need to find something to do to pass the time between DHI practice sessions? Why not go and watch the XCO.
INTERVIEW: ALDEN ARDERN
Interview with Alden Ardern - Rotorua '06 Course creator and Rotorua legend.
Plus a few more pics of the course.
PSYCHIC MIKE'S CORNER
This month Psychic Mike (aka Mike Hill) imparts his knowlege and worldly wisdom on us and lets us in on who's gona take it out and who's gona be taken out at the worlds in vegas (Roto)
-A seriously good read.
COURSE PREVIEW
What to expect from the worlds course - photos and more.
ALSO: CHECK OUT THE HEAD CAM FOOTAGE BELOW
Who’s coming?
We profile some of the top local and international riders who will be competing at the World Champs in August. We’ll be adding new profiles all the time so keep an eye on this section.
What's New?
Alden and the team have been hard at work preparing the track for the worlds. There have been some nice little (and not so little) changes to the course since it was ridden at the Oceanias earlier this year. See the writeup here
The Pond Jump: One of the many recent additions to the Rotorua Course.
A long high speed double at the top of the course leading into the new road bridge.
// CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW
Full length head cam run of the Rotorua '06 Worlds Course
(try right click and save target as)
CHECK OUT THE OFFICIAL SITE FOR FULL TIME TABLE INFORMATION AND TICKETS.
//MOREINFO
Check out the profiles pages for detailed info on all the kiwi hopefulls and the top international riders..
KIWI RIDER:VANESSA QUIN
We catch up with New Zealand’s top female rider and World Champ hopeful Vanessa Quin during her first race in lead up to the championships after injuring herself in Europe earlier in the year.
// Rotorua DH Course Headcam
See the roto '06 page for a Full length head cam run of the Rotorua '06 Worlds Course
// COMPETITIONS
Check out the competions page for regular give aways and stuff. At the moment we're running two seperate competitions to guess the fastest Kiwis and the fastest overall rider in the upcoming World Champs in Rotorua.
Watch out for our special feature on the Atherton family - coming up soon.
//NZ RIDERS
Wonder what our top riders are up to in the off season? Each month we do a round up of who’s where, doing what and bring you reports from Kiwis in every corner of the globe and back here at home.. [+]CLICK HERE
