Sheppard powers by Hurst in Karapoti
It was tough going for defending champions at the Karapoti Classic on Saturday.
The longest running mountain bike race in the Southern Hemisphere has a reputation as a challenging event that always attracts a top field.
Based in Upper Hutt’s rugged Akatarawa hills, the course is an old-school adventure ride featuring huge hills and river crossings, amid remote and rugged forest trails
This year 600 riders from eight countries battled heavy rain and mud, that turned the event into an epic.
Upper Hutt doctor and threetime winner Kim Hurst was the odds-on favourite in the women’s race. A year ago the 38-year-old broke her own course record and was keen to push the pace early in this year’s race.
But on the first climb up Deadwood Ridge, Wellingtonianturned-Aussie Samara Sheppard, threw out a challenge that Hurst could not match.
Sheppard first tasted success at Karapoti 10 years ago, winning the junior women’s race in what is still a race record.
She hasn’t had much luck since, with several years marked by mechanical mishaps and punctures that saw her limited to twice finishing third.
But intent on turning that around, Sheppard led the entire way and despite the terrible conditions she stopped the clock over six minutes clear of Hurst, only 33secs outside of Hurst’s record.
Hurst held on for second place to bring her Karapoti tally to three wins and four second placings. Nelson’s Ingrid Richter claimed third.
In the men’s race, defending champion Jack Compton lived up to his favouritism by taking the lead up the infamous Devil’s Staircase.
He looked to have the race won until puncturing with just five kilometres to ride. Australian Kyle Ward wasted no time, sweeping past the unfortunate Porirua rider to take the win.
Ward was quick to acknowledge Compton’s bad luck, but was pleased to win in a fast time of 2hrs 17min 40secs that made the Australian the fourth fastest Karapoti winner in history.
Wellington’s Ed Crossling finished third.
Among the 600-odd finishers behind the two surprise winners, Wellington’s 72-year-old Peter Schmitz was the eldest and improved his own record of more Karapoti races than anyone else, at 28.
At the other age of the age spectrum, 11-year-olds Lucy Jurke and Emily Hannah became the youngest ever female finishers of the feature 50k Classic.