Mountain biking: Johnston is jubilant with bronze (+video)

Rotorua's Nathan Johnston peddled his way to a third place finish in the opening round of Rotorua's Winter MTB series on the weekend.

Young local athlete Nathan Johnston is aiming for a bright future in the sport after finishing third in the opening round of Rotorua's Winter MTB series.

The 18-year-old steered his way through 42km of difficult terrain, mostly in the Whakarewarewa Forest, in the premier male event to win a "surprise" bronze place on Sunday.

Johnston completed the course in 2h 00m 58s - just one second behind second placed Glenn Haden, with winner Edwin Crossling from Wellington finishing 01h 58m 59s.

The Rotorua Mountain Bike Club rider raced with a group of six riders for most of the course, just off the leader's pace, before he attacked on the final section of the trail.

"I waited to make a move right at the end and I could have even snatched second place," Johnston said.

"It helped that I knew the tracks because I was able to cut some great lines but on the last corner Glenn got ahead.

"But I didn't even expect to be up there contending for the top spots so I'm very happy.

"I really got my head down in the middle phase of the race on the single tracks in the forest and that set me up for a strong finish."

The race in recent previous years had been dominated by local riders Dirk Peters and endurance king Carl Jones but with both not competing, Crossling cycled at the front for the entire race.

"I went from the gun and I managed to dislodge from the rest relatively early. I was on it the whole time," he said.

"It was good that I didn't have to break free from a group because that is when you can run into some difficulties and rack up seconds on your time.

"I loved all the single tracks downhill in the forest and was able to power on from there."

Meanwhile, the premier women's event was dominated by Wellington's Kim Hurst who completed the course in 02h 20m 34s , with Sarah Backler in second in 02h 27m 01s and Rotorua's Amber Johnston in third finishing with a time of 02h 28m 44s.

"It was a battle in the women's race right from the start. We were all pushing hard from the gun so I'm really stoked with the result," said Hurst.

"A lot of the track was very open at the beginning with high speed cycling.

"But then we hit the single trails in the Redwoods and that's why we really drive all the way here.

"You can't beat it right in the middle of the forest. It's a fantastic course."

The annual event, attracted a record breaking number of entries - just under 1000 riders, with 150 local athletes, competing across all fields.

Event manager Tim Farmer praised Rotorua for hosting a "world class" event.

"The trails were tweaked from last year but they still provided the best possible ride for everyone," he said.

"It was a real spectacle and some really top quality performances were put in."

- Results: www.sportsplits.com