Wanganui mountainbiker just misses world title

Wanganui downhill mountainbiker Sam Blenkinsop came within 1.16 seconds of a world championship title on Saturday.
Competing in the junior men's division at the World Mountainbiking Championships in Rotorua, the 17-year-old finished agonisingly close to New Zealand team-mate Cameron Cole, who won the race and took world championship title.
As top qualifier, Blenkinsop was last rider to go, which may have hampered his performance, as the track became cut up as more riders went over it.
The Wanganui rider had a fall in the first section of the course, which put him over three seconds behind at the first split.
He was quicker through the bottom half, making up nearly two seconds, but it was not enough to bridge the gap, with Cole finishing in 3min 28.29sec compared to Blenkinsop's 3.29.45.
He told reporters he knew the fall had been crucial. "I lost two or three seconds when I fell off in the trees. My bike fell on top of me."
After finishing eighth in last year's world's, the runner-up result is impressive for the Wanganui mountainbiker, who rides in Europe for the Gravity Group.
Convincing him of the meritorious nature of his achievements proved difficult after the race.
"I could be happier," Blenkinsop said. "I would have won easily if I hadn't crashed? but I'm happy for Cam."
For Cole it was all about riding the course "a bit better" than everyone else.
"I don't usually like the mud," he told reporters after his win. [Today] I rode it at 80 or 90 percent, never at 100 percent. It was how it had to be ridden."
The other Wanganui rider in the junior division was Edward Masters, who finished a respectable 25th.
In the elite men's, Wanganui's Glenn Haden suffered a more spectacular crash than Blenkinsop, which saw him finish 44th.
"I had a huge stack at the top of the course," he said. "I started at 110 percent and was going for it, but that put an end to my big hopes of a top 10 finish."
With rain throughout the week the course had cut up worse than expected.
"A lot of the riders were talking about how hard it was to stay on your line and how easy it was to make mistakes," Haden said. "Everyone basically bummed out. All the good New Zealand hopes had downers in the elite because the course had just blown out by our run."
Blenkinsop's and Cole's efforts put smiles on Kiwi team faces after the senior riders didn't fare so well.
New Zealand 2004 women's world champion Vanessa Quin, who finished seventh this year, summed up the feeling within the team.
"I am so proud of them," she said. "They could have so easily messed it up and stuff, but they didn't. They were solid and they've been solid all season. And Sam's come back from a broken collarbone.
"Cameron's had a season overseas and has been up and down, but I think they proved to everyone they are going to be stars of the future."