Seventy riders took up the significant challenge the annual Mammoth mountain bike adventure race presented this year.
Riders were in for a hot day in the saddle with temperatures in the Hira and Fringed Hill forests and valleys hovering in the high 20s.
Nelson’s Chris Burr led the Nelson MTB Club’s longest running event (now in its 16th year) for the full 50km loop, with promising Nelson junior George Bennett maintaining a strong presence finishing 15min behind Burr.
Burr relished the technical nature of the course and extended his lead on every single track section, wearing an ear-to-ear grin while plying his craft, and taking 2hr 53min to win the Hanmer Springs annual Molesworth Run mountain bike challenge.
Nelson’s Sandy Kunz led the women’s field home in 3hr 50min.
Riders from Blenheim, Christchurch, Golden Bay and from as far afield as Canada sampled some of Nelson’s best riding trails during the 50km loop.
The first section took riders 10km into the Hira forest along Sharlands Creek, riding back out of the valley on a selection of technically challenging single track trails.
Riders then crossed the Maitai River and rode a figure eight circuit of Sharlands and Fringed Hills, again being treated to some of Nelson’s finest mountain bike trails in the Hancocks managed pine forest.
A tooth-rattling firebreak descent took riders off Fringed Hill to complete the loop with a fast scoot down the Maitai River trail and to Branford Park to finish.
A strong recreational field also competed, with Steve Sampson and Alysha Borlase bringing home the men’s and women’s fields on a shorter 30km loop.
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