Gravity Enduro off to great start
CARDRONA Alpine Resort’s high mountain winter ski slopes provided a rocky, bumpy and challenging summer ride for the competitors in the first 100% Gravity Enduro mountain bike race held at the weekend.
About 50 entrants competed in the open and junior to secondary divisions on Saturday with riders completing three timed runs down each of the three stages of the downhill intermediate level course. Cardrona Alpine Resort events manager Graham Dunbar said holding mountain bike races was not only a great way to develop the resort’s summer activities but it was also a ‘‘pathway to identifying the talent within the sport’’.
‘‘Mountain biking is a phenomenally big sport in New Zealand and if we’re to build on the success of the likes of Anton Cooper we need to have more recreational mountain bike races that are not only fun, but can identify the stars of the future,’’ he said.
The first 100% Gravity Enduro race was mainly aimed at secondary school mountain bikers but the youngest entrant was 11 and the oldest was in their 50s, he said.
The 100% Gravity Enduro involved 100% chairlift access for competitors unlike other enduro races that included both climbing and descending.
The winners were Joseph Wilson (17) and Loren Edwards (11), both in the junior division, while Phil Atwill (22) won the open male division.
kerrie.waterworth@odt.co.nz