Blokart World Championships: Maraetōtara to Nevada - sisters square-off in US

Maraetōtara sisters Sophie and Jade Pedersen will go head to head on US soil at the Blokart World Championship in April.

The Hawke’s Bay family are part of the 25-member New Zealand team that will take to the world stage and compete on the salt flats in the Nevada desert.

Blokart racing family Sophie (left), Jade, Julie and Scott Pedersen. Photo / Connull Lang

Invented by Tauranga man Paul Beckett, the Blokart is a three-wheeled, triangular-shaped cart powered by an extendable sail that uses the wind for propulsion. It requires similar skills to sailing, which the family are familiar with.

“You can get up to speeds of 80km/h on these things that are about 100mm to 200mm off the ground - it’s pretty intense,” said father Scott Pedersen.

Pedersen - who would also compete - encouraged his daughters, Jade, 14, and Sophie, 12, to take up the land-based sport two years ago after the family had spent a lot of time at the Napier Sailing Club.

The sisters would be in the 70kg weight category and previously competed at the world champs held at Sanson and Ōhakea in 2022.

Jade would defend her second-place youth title and Sophie would be the youngest competitor, and is likely to face others much older than her.

The family practise at the Prebensen Drive Blokart Track in Napier, which is purpose-built for the sport and Hawke’s Bay sea breezes.

“We race around a piece of tarmac with marks and it is all quite close and has tight and fast turns.”

Blokart sisters Sophie Pedersen (front) and Jade Pedersen will compete against each other at the World Championship. Photo / Connull Lang

Hawke’s Bay Blokarter Hayden Percy, the 2022 world middleweight champion, will also join Team Napier to defend his title.

“We tend to sail against each other or with each other and have been doing it for years and now we race Blokarts together,” Pedersen said.

He said there was some danger in the sport and safety depended on Blokarters’ abilities at the time.

“There is a chance if they make a mistake it’s reasonably bad, you always worry as a parent, but they will do what they need to do at the time.”

The family will head to the US and take in the sights of Los Angeles before weighing in for the two-day North American championships, and then compete in the five-day world competition.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.