It’s all downhill from here
With the nicknames Hot Wheels, Cannonball and Airtime, it’s clear that mountain biking is in the blood of the Rutherfurd siblings and they have the pro ranks in their sights. Helen Harvey reports.
When Camden Rutherfurd rides his mountain bike fast downhill he ‘‘flows’’ through the bumps and jumps, so the ride feels smooth. Sometimes he feels like he is flying. And it looks like it too as he comes out of Stumpy’s Revenge trail into space, high off the ground.
Camden, 10, and siblings Brook, 12 and Addison, 9, are in their happy place. On their mountain bikes. Riding fast. Hitting jumps.
It’s 3.30pm on a Thursday and they are on their home turf – Taranaki’s Lake Mangamahoe, between New Plymouth and Inglewood.
They warm up on the pump track, bobbing up and down over the bumps, using their bodies to gain momentum so they don’t have to pedal. Then they hit one of the dozens of tracks. Riding down a trail Brook (nicknamed Hot Wheels) and ‘‘Cannonball’’ Camden both jump as they come out into a clearing, turning their bikes sideways mid-air before returning front on to land back on the ground. That’s a whip. They’re busting out moves all over the place.
They do it because they love it. It’s fun. And they’re good. Very good.
Brook, 12, started riding when he was five, the other two were about three when they first got on a bike, he says.
‘‘It’s a sport we love and enjoy. Probably most of us would prefer the jumps, but we always love just having fun and doing what we love.’’
Addie wants to follow in the wheels of Australian BMX Olympian Caroline Buchanan, Brook looks up to Billy Meaclem and Camden’s favourite rider is Taranaki’s Wyn Masters.
As Brook gets older his size is working against him. The three kids are small for their age, which has created a challenge for their father, Craig Rutherfurd, who builds their bikes. He spends countless hours researching, building and modifying their bikes.
It was the kids’ diminutive size that helped them gain their collective nickname: Little Shredders. To ‘‘shred’’ the trails means to ride with attitude, passion and style.
Their size is why cross country is not on the long list of mountain biking disciplines the Rutherfurd kids have mastered. Instead, they concentrate on Enduro, a bit of dual slalom, pump track, and their favourite – downhill – because they love the adrenaline rush.
The New Plymouth family is so into the sport that parents Rutherfurd, an engineer, and Carolyn Jackson, an accountant, have bought a holiday home in Rotorua, because, they say, it provides the best place in the North Island for riding.
‘‘It’s an investment moving forward. We sort of figured that if we could tie it in with something we enjoyed doing as a family it would make it all worth while,’’ Rutherfurd says.
But the kids have no doubt about where their favourite place to ride is – Whistler, a Canadian town 120km north of Vancouver.
Because, and Camden speaks for all of them, ‘‘there’s a huge big mountain with heaps of sick mountain bike trails’’.
In Whistler the kids compete at Kidsworx, part of Crankworx, an elite level competition.
Crankworx is about bringing young talent through to the stage where they can become professionals, Rutherfurd says.
‘‘It’s just a spectacle. It’s an awesome event.’’
The Rutherfurd trio compete in as many competitions as they can.
Camden and Addie win more than he does, Brook says. He reckons it doesn’t bother him. He’s usually somewhere in the pack.
His siblings immediately disagree.
Brook’s race times are always faster than Camden and
Addie’s, Camden says. ‘‘So he
always does really well.’’
This year the boys achieved an invite to race in the ALINE Downhill at Whistler. Entry is based on results from previous Crankworx events and is limited to 15 international riders, who race with kids from Canada, one of the strongest countries in the sport.
Out of the 43 riders Brook came in 23rd and Camden, who was one of the youngest, 27th.
Camden was top seed in the 9-10 years age group, winning the Enduro 3-downhill stages and getting silver in the downhill, one second behind the winner. Addie won gold in the Dirt Pumptrack for 7-9 year-old girls and collected silver on the BMX 9-10 age group.
Brook had 68 boys in his race and got 16th in Enduro and 14th in the downhill. The margins are tight and there are mere seconds between the top riders.
When they compete in New Zealand they usually finish in the top 10, Rutherfurd says.
‘‘Camden is pretty much on the podium. Addie is on podium at the moment. They try their best. They give 100. They don’t go out to fail, so it’s really rewarding. They’re achieving hugely.’’
The Little Shredders appear out of the forest, making jumps along the way before swerving to a stop by their dad. For about 30 seconds. Then they’re off up another trail.
Rutherford reckons he’s taught them as much as he can.
‘‘The level they’re riding at now, they need to have a proper coach, make sure they are doing things right. It’s more so they don’t get bad habits. Body position on the bike or body position in the air. That’s where the performance side of the coach is invaluable.’’
The boys ride in a pro team, Kinney Kamp, based in California.
It’s just for the involvement and the opportunities when they go over to Whistler, Rutherfurd says.
‘‘They’ve got a little crew of riding buddies. Because we are based down here [in New Zealand] we have Skype interviews or conference calls with Jake the coach. We catch up with him at the major events. He’s over here in March at Rotorua Crankworx.’’
In the past, Brook and Camden received some coaching from New Zealand professional rider and coach Louis Hamilton, who says the boys are
‘‘If they keep going the way they are they are going to be the riders of the future.’’
Louis Hamilton
‘‘They try their best. They give 100. They don’t go out to fail, so it’s really rewarding. They’re achieving hugely.’’
Craig Rutherfurd
very talented for their age.
‘‘If they keep going the way they are they are going to be the riders of the future. There are a lot of talented kids their age, but not many are competing.’’
Brook and Camden have a BMX background so they have a unique riding style with lots of body language on the bike – they show their aggression on the bike, he says.
The sport has grown massively in New Zealand in the past five years, especially since Rotorua has been on the Crankworx world tour, Hamilton says.
In the past five years in New Plymouth alone, the mountain bike club has gone from 277 members to more than 1000.
Rutherfurd has seen the increase in demand and has just started up a business Shredder Racks Ltd, making bike racks. It also gives him the spare time to do after-school sports with the kids.
And it’s not just mountain biking. In the winter the boys play rugby and Addie plays netball. And the children have swimming lessons, play touch and ride BMX.
Mountain biking is their first love, but it began with BMX, which they just ‘‘kind of’’ stumbled into.
There’s a lot of pressure and intensity in BMX, so they started doing a little bit of mountain biking just for fun, Rutherfurd says.
‘‘The kids were doing well and I was back on a bike and my wife started riding and it’s just evolved. Then we just started doing a few comps and, yeah, it’s been fun.’’
Rutherfurd doesn’t see himself as a pushy parent. The kids all enjoy riding. And when they’re in Rotorua they want to ride all the time. They wake up saying ‘what trails are we riding today’?
There has to be a certain amount of push, but at the end of the night they have to pry the kids off the tracks, he says.
‘‘When they first started doing BMX, Camden hated it but he had to go along because Brook and Addie were doing it. Many nights he wouldn’t ride. Now he’s the kid riding on the drive after tea in his pyjamas.’’
For now, all three love riding. As for the future who knows. Rutherfurd would like them to stay involved with the sport even if they don’t move on to bigger things.
‘‘I think riding bikes is something that once you do it as a youngster you’ll always come back to it and you’ll always enjoy it, whether you are 10 or you’ve got a family of your own.
‘‘I’d like to see them go overseas and ride, if they’re lucky enough to get on a circuit or be picked up by sponsors.’’
Rutherfurd isn’t worried about injuries. All the kids have had crashes, so they know how to fall. They have good bike control. They know how to ride within their limits.
And they have good quality gear. Which costs money. As does travelling to events all around the country.
Rutherfurd wouldn’t be drawn on how much the family have invested in the Little Shredders.
‘‘I don’t know to be honest. Quite a lot. It sounds pretty crazy, but that’s what we do.’’