Crankworx Rotorua. Photo / Clint Trahan
The first victors of Crankworx Rotorua 2021 have been rewarded, the first Southern-Hemisphere champagne sprayed, and the first King and Queen points doled out to finishers.
Competitors took on the CLIF Speed & Style presented by Mons Royale, followed by the Crankworx Rotorua Downhill presented by Gull.
Kicking off the day, the Speed & Style challenged competitors on all fronts, with riders pushing through and throwing down amidst wind, rain, delays, and competition from the best in the world.
The last man and woman standing through it all? Harriet Burbidge-Smith and Billy Meaclam.
"It was a mental battle, from pretty much yesterday morning 'til now," Burbidge-Smith said.
"Are we riding, are we not riding. The wind's good, the wind's bad. The rain's on, the rain's off. It's more wind again and people are crashing. It was gnarly."
Finals were meant to run yesterday but were delayed due to the conditions.
"I think all the girls showed that [mental toughness] to be honest.
"With it being such a new thing, Speed & Style for the women, that we're battling through the wind and battling through crashes and everything like that. It's hard to train for that. You have to kind of be in these moments a bunch of times to get better at it I guess. I'm happy that I got through the day.
"I'm super stoked, but at the same I do feel for those girls," she added of her fellow competitors whose days didn't end as planned.
"They're some of my best friends and I'm just hoping they're all good."
The world's eyes had been on local Rotorua rider Robin Goomes, who threw down the first backflip by a woman in competition at Crankworx Innsbruck earlier this year, and Caroline Buchanan, who made history with the first front flip by a woman at the Audi Nines competition this summer.
Goomes crashed earlier in the day and as a result didn't secure a qualifying spot. Buchanan was climbing the ranks in finals, but went down on the first jump in her matchup against Vaea Verbeeck.
Verbeeck would finish her day in second, with local rider Ronja-Hill Wright taking third.
New Zealand's Ellie Chew showed some serious strength and style, landing two perfect backflips on one of her runs before going down in the gates.
After a few gnarly crashes, she was in good spirits.
"It was awesome riding it for the first time. The jumps are pretty big - definitely hard with the wind we were battling with the whole time. I loved it. It was cool just riding with everyone.
"Definitely had a battler of a day, I think I went down about five times, not even on the jumps just trying to get around the corners and everything but you have those days - and yeah, it was a good time."
On the men's side, it was a similar story of big tricks and big spills on the way to the top.
Matt Begg and Tim Bringer both went down in their first matchup in the Round of 8, with Bringer crashing again in their second.
Begg then went down against Tomas Lemoine in the next round, with the Frenchman then charging his way into the finals against past winner Billy Meaclam.
Lemoine won the event in 2020, while Meaclam won the event in 2019.
Lemoine crashed out, and Meaclam claimed his second Speed & Style victory.
Lemoine credited Meaclam on his flawless performance, stating that he hasn't seen him make a mistake so far.
The key for Meaclam was keeping it consistent, with the right mix of tricks and speed to bring home the final title.
"It's déjà vu. It's pretty surreal," Meaclam said.
"It's just a really fun day up riding with everyone. This is one of my favourite events. You get to go really fast with your bike and still have fun doing tricks."
"It's been a long ass time that I've ridden a Crankworx event. I've been stuck in the country since Covid happened. It's been pretty cool to be back riding with all the pros again."
Behind Meaclam and Lemoine, Bas van Steenbergen rounded out the podium, having beat New Zealand's Matt Begg in the small final.
"I was versing Bas and he was doing low sort of stuff and I was boosting sort of style, so it was really cool to mix the two and see how they compare. Obviously he was just a bit faster so I just needed to do some better tricks so I'll come back next year pretty hungry I think," Begg said.
With barely a moment to spare after the podium, racers made their way to the top of Mount Ngongotahā to tackle the DH in much different conditions.
For Downhill practice, Spring in New Zealand had queued up perfection.
The Pro Women's field and the first of the top men were served up tacky spring dirt. And then the rain came.
"In the gate it wasn't really raining," said New Zealand's Louis Hamilton.
"I could see it was, and probably maybe 30 seconds into it the goggle lens started filling up with a bit of rain. I entered the forest with a few speckles on the lens but could see. There weren't too many issues with vision. Certainly, coming out into the open it was wet."
Hamilton clocked a 2:51.038 and moved into the hot seat. And then the skies opened in earnest. The rest of the field battled through the wet, no one able to beat his time.
Tuhoto-Ariki Pene placed 4th and commented on the awesome feeling of racing on his tribal mountain (Ngongotahā) and to be next to his family and friends after months of globe trotting racing.
Pene felt that he pushed himself despite the weather conditions.
Local young gun Lachlan Stevens-McNab is inspired by the athletes he is getting to race saying "It's cool being out there with all the guys I've looked up to my whole life of riding! They are all helping me and are really supportive. The course was so slippery out there today but heaps of fun".
Another racer in disbelief at her win, the women's winner. Jenna Hastings has been working her way up the ranks as a teen, taking wins on youth podiums.
"It's unreal," the 17-year-old said.
"I had a bit of a mistake at the top…slipped a pedal, clipped my ankle. Just tried to hold it together the rest of the way and it went pretty smoothly."
Hastings crossed the line in 3:15.842, over six seconds ahead of Shania Rawson (who took second) and Casey Brown (who took third).
In addition to podiums, champagne and giant cheques, today's results add points to the overall King and Queen of Crankworx standings.
Bas van Steenbergen, the current men's leader, adds to his points lead with his third place finish in Speed & Style, while Vaea Verbeeck earns a solid amount with a second in Speed & Style and a fifth place in the DH. Both have commanding leads, with two days of competition left in the season.
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King's College celebrated a 23-17 victory over Auckland Grammar, securing the Cooper-Greenbank Cup.
