There are two new names as winners of the UCI Marathon MTB National Championship, staged as part of the annual Whaka 100 event in Rotorua.
Rising 20-year-old Taupō cross-country rider Coen Nicol has prevailed in the elite men’s category, while accomplished Christchurch rider Mary Grayhas etched her name on the women’s trophy.
Nicol, who has recently returned from a season in Europe and North America on the UCI XCO scene, was at the pointy end of the men’s 100km race in the famed Whakarewarewa Forest at the midway point, and pushed on solo to win in 4:46.38.
Initially, he was with a four-strong group with favourite Caleb Bottcher (Palmerston North), the hugely experienced former Rotorua rider, Sam Shaw (Wānaka) and Hamilton teenager James Climo, a member of the NZ Mountainbike Academy.
At the 43km mark, Nicol and Shaw had a one minute break on Climo and Bottcher. The young Taupō rider took his chance as Shaw faced and at 70km had a 2:48 advantage on Climo and Bottcher.
He stretched things from there with the title safe when he reached Bosch Hill climb with a four-minute buffer to Bottcher and a further minute to Climo.
Nicol won in 4:46.38 with Bottcher second, 4:125 back, and Climo third a further 30sec behind.
“I can’t believe it. Coming down the creek crossing, I couldn’t stop smiling,” Nicol said.
“I didn’t have any play other than to race my own race. I ended up with a gap on Sam Shaw at 50km and went solo from there and never looked back.”
He has only been back in the country a little over two weeks, putting in some solid late preparation before freshening up last week.
Mary Gray crossing the finish line at Rotorua Whaka 100. Photo / Supplied
Gray has been a highly competitive XCO rider in New Zealand since she first came to prominence as a junior. Now a qualified physiotherapist in Christchurch, her previous best was third seven years ago.
She was part of a small bunch with elite international XCO rider Amelie Makay, Laura Park and Maeve Kennedy who opened an eight minute at the halfway mark.
The Christchurch pair of Gray and Mackay, who has also recently returned from the European MTB season, edged clear at the 70km mark before Gray opened a 45 sec advantage with 20km remaining.
Mackay closed back to 30 seconds with 8km remaining, but Gray managed to stretch that nearly a minute with 5km to go, going on to win in 6:03.37. Mackay finished second 1:29 behind, with Kennedy third, 15 minutes behind the winner.
The event is part of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest mass-participation MTB event, with over 3500 participants competing over a variety of distances.
It was first staged in 2007 at the one of the sport’s global meccas of Rotorua on the renowned forest tracks in the Whakarewarewa Forest.
