Mountain biking: Rotorua recordholder second

Rotorua's Dirk Peters (left) finished behind Cambridge's Sam Gaze (right) on Saturday at the Motatapu Speight's Summit race in Wanaka. Photo/Supplied

Rotorua's Dirk Peters has finished second at the Motatapu Speight's Summit race in Wanaka, one week out from the Oceania Championships.

Peters finished behind national cross-country champion Sam Gaze (Cambridge), who made a name for himself at the recent 2014 Rotorua Bike Festival. Peters said the pair kept a steady pace together on Saturday until the summit when he "just felt a bit tired and let Sam pass".

"I enjoyed it though and, yeah, I'm disappointed I didn't win or break my course record but it was great out there. Weather was awesome and I'll certainly be back next year."

Peters finished in a time of 1hr 52min 11sec, about a minute back on Gaze. Gaze's time did not beat Peters' course record (1hr 47min 53sec) set last year.

"I found the course super fun, so enjoyable," Gaze said.

"I worked together with Dirk. He was doing more work than me and we rode into the last 14km together before I found my own tempo, though I left it a bit late to get the course record.

"We both had some sketchy moments and it was very hairy watching Dirk go around some of the corners."

The Rotorua-based NZXC Racing team performed well at the event with Peters finishing second, Kate Fluker (Queenstown) winning the women's elite race, and Rotorua's Amber Johnston winning the women's elite junior category.

In the women's elite open category Queenstown favourite Fluker took first place again with a time of 2hr 8min 31sec, beating her own course record by just under a minute.

The current New Zealand mountain bike champion said she was "absolutely stuffed" but "feeling good".

"The course was great but it was pretty hot through the middle there and going through the mud was really heavy and slow, but hey that's the same for everyone.

"Motatapu was my very first race and I love it. It's just such a great race. I've been back for the last four years and it helps me remember my roots I suppose," she said.

"I'm a local girl too so it's pretty easy to fit into my schedule and I never get tired of the amazing scenery."

Fluker was 22 minutes ahead of second-placed female Haley van Leeuwen from Dunedin.

This year's mountain bike event sold out in record time and attracted several professional athletes and Olympians. Sarah Ulmer, Hamish Carter, Nathan Cohen and Mahe Drysdale all competed in the 47km bike race.

The Motatapu Speight's Summit mountain bike race was one of the feature events at the 10th annual Motatapu Off-Road Adventure Race on Saturday.