Mountain biking: Shania Rawson chasing pro contract

Papamoa's world-class downhill mountain biker Shania Rawson in action. Photo / Jay French Freeride New Zealand

Roaring down a mountain bike track evading rocks and tree roots with split-second timing is right up there in adrenalin-fuelled sports.

Papamoa teenager Shania Rawson, 18, is one of the leading riders in her age group in the world and in the form of her life.

At the national championships held in Cardrona in February she won the under-19 downhill title for the second consecutive year.

That was the precursor to her standout performance at the 2017 Oceania Continental MTB Championships in Toowoomba, Australia where she took on the best Aussie riders.

"I won that as well which was great. There was quite a bit more opposition with a girl [Ellie Smith] who has been dominating over there for ages. I went over there to see if I could beat her plus there was heaps more competition with the elite women as well," Rawson said.

"I could compare my time with them. The conditions were a lot drier over there and more slippery, basically just loose rock the whole way down, so it was a little bit different to here."

Rawson shocked the parochial Australian supporters by beating Smith by 16.5 seconds - an unusually large gap at this level.

Her time was just 3.2s behind the leading elite rider from Australia and would have been good enough for third in the elite women's final.

So she was peaking nicely for the international field that came to Rotorua for Crankworx this month.

She reached her goal of winning her age group in the downhill run and also won the Air DH downhill race before finishing fourth in the more extreme Pump Track.

Last September at the UCI Mountain Bike World Champs held in Italy Rawson proved she could compete on the world stage.

"I did get third in the final which I think is quite good for my first international race."

Rawson puts her recent run of form down to spending more time training on her biking and pushing herself against the top young male riders in the Bay of Plenty.

"They are obviously way faster than me and that has just got my confidence up a lot. I have been more consistent in my races."

Rawson was a world-ranked BMX rider before she switched to mountain biking four years ago. She started BMX aged 4, winning eight national titles and was ranked sixth in the world.

Her brother Kurt Pickard represented New Zealand at the 2012 London Olympics in BMX and is now a world-renowned coach and trainer.

"BMX is the best way to start as a kid to get the skills up. I wouldn't have been doing downhill if I didn't do BMX I think," she said.

Next up for Rawson are two more Crankworx events in Prague and France in June before Downhill World Cup meets in Andorra and Switzerland in July, with the world championships to follow in Cairns, Australia in September.

"This is basically going to be the biggest year for me and will determine if I am good enough to keep racing as next year I will be in the elite women group.

"I hope I get into a pro team and then I can race professionally."