More growth for winter MTB series

THEY'RE OFF: The start of the third round of the MTB Winter Series at Long Mile Rd. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

Glenn Haden from Whanganui and Tauranga's Sarah Backler are the Rotorua Winter Series Mountain Bike long course champions for 2016.

Haden finished second behind Manawatu's Gareth Cannon at the final round on Sunday, his third second place of the series, while Backler won the final race to jump from third to the top of the standings.

In the mid range course, Rotorua's Hamish Dodd took overall honours while Sammie Maxwell was the women's series winner.

Event manager Tim Farmer said Dodd had dominated this year's mid range course series.

''He has smashed everybody out of the all park - he was four or five minutes ahead of everybody else, and every race has been like that.''

Farmer said the three-race series has grown by around 45 per cent on last year.

''We are getting around 800 for our races - although the second race was affected by a lot of snow around the Central North Island. We had a large number of riders entered, they just couldn't all get here.''

The other aspect of this year's series has been the number of South Islanders taking part.

''They are flying up here because they can't get a competition like this for cross country mountain biking anywhere else in New Zealand - that's a real positive for everything that happens here in Rotorua not just the mountain biking."

The series has also introduced an accompanying rider feature so parents can ride alongside their children to support and motivate them as they ride.

The series started in 2002 and was taken over by Nduro Events in 2014.

Results:
Overall series winners:
Agroventures Short Course 15km
Males: 1. Troy Herman, Tauranga, 2. Cameron Beck, Rotorua, 3. Alex Rainbow, Taupo
Female: 1. Zara Koorey, Taupo, 2. Emma lord, Tauranga, 3. Kim Cadzow,
The Coffee Club Mid Course 30km
Males: 1, Hamish Dodd, Rotorua 2, Caleb Bottcher, Palmerston North, 3, Samuel Lord, Tauranga.
Female: 1, Sammie Maxwell, Taupo, 2, Morgan Brown, Whakatane, 3, Heather Logie, Tauranga.
Polynesian Spa Long Course 45km
Males: 1, Glenn Haden, Whanganui, 2, Edwin Crossling, Wellington, 3, Gareth Cannon, Woodville
Female: 1, Sarah Backler, Tauranga, 2, Amy Haddon, Rotorua, 3, Phobe Young, Wanaka
Croucher Lowrider Enduro Stage champions
Males: 1, Dirk Peters, Rotorua, 2, Garth Weinberg, Rotorua, 3, Glenn Haden, Whanganui
Female: 1, Jessica Manchester, Auckland, 2, Amy Haddon, Rotorua, 3, Sarah Backler, Tauranga.