NZ team take eighth at world mountainbiking champs

New Zealand took eighth place in the team relay which kicked off the world mountainbike championships in South Africa.

The relay comprised a lap each for a male and female elite, male under 23 and male junior.

New Zealand had no male elite riders so included two under 23 competitors, last year's junior world champion Anton Cooper and Dirk Peters, along with Olympian Karen Hanlen and junior Sam Gaze.

Italy and France finished in the same time, with Italy winning the photo finish to take the title.

Cooper's 14min 31s was the best of the New Zealanders, with Peters clocking 14:39 to put New Zealand up to fourth, but they fell back to ninth after Hanlen's loop of 19:36, before Gaze managed a 15:12.

"It was a super-fast pace and I went off the track into the soft stuff at the base of the first climb in a tussle for a good position," Cooper said. "I had to run up the first steep hill which wasn't much fun."

The championships proper begin tomorrow with Amber Johnston (Rotorua) in the women juniors cross-country before Gaze (Te Awamutu) and North Canterbury brothers Ben and Craig Oliver contest the men juniors.

Results, team relay:
Italy 58min 12 1, France 58:12 2, Germany 1:00:33 3. Also: New Zealand 1:03.58 (Anton Cooper 14:31, Dirk Peters 14:39, Karen Hanlen 19:36, Sam Gaze 15:12).