Mountainbiking: Jones wins Whaka 100 trail title with ease

The 2012 Whaka 100 was won in style by top Kiwi mountain biker and Rotorua local, Carl Jones, in a record time of 4:33.59 ahead of Brad Jones and Sam Shaw.

"On the descents Sam and I would get away from Brad and then let him slowly catch back up, but making sure he was working to get there,'' said Jones, the 2011 New Zealand elite mountain bike champion.

"After the 60km  mark I started to think about my race plan and on the long climb to the roof of the forest I slowly picked up the pace and the other two boys disappeared.''

The race wasn't all over, though.

"I still had 35km to go, so I tried to keep the heart rate low and the legs fresh as I could, but still attempting to get a lead,'' Jones continued.

"I had no one giving me split times, so I was completely in the dark about my lead over the last 35km.''

In the end, Jones' winning margin was a comfortable 2 minutes. The $500 bonus for crushing Scott Thorne's 4-year old race record by 10 minutes was his.

The leading women weren't far behind, with Wellington's Kim Hurst taking top spot on the podium in 5:12.07.

Hurst took an hour off her 2011 race time, just missing out on the race record of Rotorua's Annika Smail, who was second.

"The trails in Rotorua are second to none and you can't help but smile when you're riding here,'' said an elated Hurst.

"The quality of the singletrack is really unbelievable and I thought to myself, `who would ever need an X-box' as I was shredding it down Split Enz and Pondy.''

London Olympic gold medallist, Jo Aleh, swapped her 470 race yacht for a mountain bike for the day and finished an outstanding third.

While wins, records and bonuses motivate the leading riders, for many in the race field, it is all about the satisfaction of finishing.

More than 60 Australian riders competed this year. Danielle Roche the president of her local mountain bike club in Victoria was the last rider to finish in 11 hour and 53 minutes.

One of New Zealand's most demanding off-road bike races, the Whaka, is a  test of endurance, fitness and mental toughness for the  best _ and a challenge for any mountain biker.

The sixth year of Whaka 100 was run under sunny spring skies. The venue was the world-renowned Whakarewarewa mountain bike trail network, on the southern edge of Rotorua.

The race was the brainchild of Dean Watson of Nduro Events.

New Nduro owner, Rawiri Bhana tweaked the course a little in 2012, but knows not to mess with a successful formula.

"A metric century, off road is hard,'' said Bhana. ``No cruising, no drafting and with a high percent age of demanding and technical single track to keep riders focused and on their game.

"Lose that focus and these trails will bite back in a split second.''

Every year, thousands of people enjoy the fast, flowing Whakarewarewa trails in an exotic forest of giant Californian Redwoods, Australian Eucalyptus, pine and iconic native silver ferns.

"We just stitch most of them together in a single day,'' added Bhana.