Tight battle ends in Gorter triumph in 2009 Mountain Bike Marathon Champs

The 2009 National Mountain Bike Marathon Championships couldn’t have provided better riding or a better setting than Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa forest and stunning Blue Lake on Sunday 5th April. Coinciding with the Bike Vegas Highlander in its 7th year, the 75km course took in the steady hill climbs and gnarly rolling singletrack of Rotorua’s finest mountain bike tracks.

Mathew Gorter (Hamilton) took out the NZ Male Open Mountain Bike Marathon Championships title, coming home strongly after being in 4th place for most of the race, heading off Scott Thorne (Hamilton) and Brad Tilby (Auckland).

“I’m normally a roadie- I did the 100k Flyer yesterday. I was with Cabin (Mark Leishman) and Scott (Thorne) the whole way and managed to pull away at the lake. It was a great course!”

Annika Smail (Rotorua) won the NZ Female Open Mountain Bike Marathon title, convincingly heading off Nic Leary (Raetahi) and Monique Avery (Rotorua). The battle between local Smail and national cross country championship runner up Leary was set up to be a nail biter in the week leading up to the champs, however Leary was strongly affected by blurred vision and did well to finish second. Sarah Beadel from Rotorua took out the Female Masters title.

Leishman (Raetahi) finished one minute behind Gorter to win the Male Masters championship, finishing second overall.

“Good course! Scott (Thorne) and Ash (Hough) took off at the start and I couldn’t keep up- it was a very fast start. Matt (Gorter) was just behind me for most of the course. Ash faded at the climb up Lookout Road and we caught up.”

Scott Thorne made another break but was caught again by Gorter and Leishman coming around the lake after making all of the attacking moves during the race.

The BikeVegas Highlander incorporates 40km and 20km courses that are fantastic to introduce mountain bikers to the vast network of Rotorua’s fast single track.

It was fairly obvious from the beaming smiles of competitors that the smooth flowing corners of the Bike Vegas Highlander course provided some of the best riding in the world. The Blue Lake provided a perfect end for hot exhausted competitors to take a dip and cool down. Despite some disappointing outside individuals tampering with track signage both before and during the event that lead to a few riders getting lost, some quick thinking from other riders, friendly marshals and a great course never dampened participant enjoyment.