Cross-country: Whanganui's Seth Reardon moves to second in national series

Whanganui's Seth Reardon.

Whanganui's Seth Reardon has moved up to second overall following Round 2 of the 2019 New Zealand Cross-country Championships at Mosgiel, but few are likely to catch Raglan's Jason Dickey.

The 21-year-old Reardon had been sitting fourth overall after the opening round near Norsewood in early February.

Dickey, the KTM 350XC-F rider, is unbeaten in the series thus far, making it back-to-back wins on Sunday.

With only three of the four rounds counted towards the final points tally, with riders able to discard their worst result, it means Dickey already perhaps has one hand on the trophy.

A Top 3 result at the next round of the series, in Marlborough on April 14, means he may not even need to line up at the final round, near Taupo on May 25.

Dickey, 24, had dominated proceedings at the series opener, charging through the field to take victory by nearly a minute ahead of fellow KTM rider Sam Brown, from Glen Murray, but it was an even bigger winning margin on Sunday's course near Outram.

Dickey this time crossed the finish line nearly two minutes clear of runner-up Reardon.
Another Raglan rider, Brandon Given, claimed the third podium spot, finishing just 15 seconds behind Reardon.

Brown had to settle for a sixth place finish at Mosgiel and he has therefore slipped from second to third in the overall championship standings, albeit just three points adrift of Reardon.