Oceania Continental Mountainbike Championships - NZ Team Preview

Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, March 18-20.

New Zealand athletes are staging an assault on the 2011 Oceania Continental Mountainbike titles this weekend - a 32 strong team covering Cross Country and Downhill disciplines will converge on the Mt Major venue in Shepparton over the next two days to ready themselves for competition this weekend.

Cross Country athletes have a lot at stake, with 2010 London Olympic qualification spots up for grabs in the Elite Mens and Womens races. Rosara Joseph (RaboBank-Giant, Christchurch) leads the NZ womens charge, with a win in this event the only result that will confirm a spot for NZ at this stage of the Olympic ranking process. Joseph will not only be racing a strong Australian contingent, but an equally determined group of NZ women who are targeting the same result.

Dirk Peters (Santa Cruz, Rotorua) and Carl Jones (Waiariki, Rotorua) are NZ's form Elite Mens athletes targeting a NZ ranking of 1 or 2 from this event. Like the Women, Peters and Jones are racing in Shepparton with the sole purpose of qualifying this 2012 London Olympic spot, and have timed their preparation to perfection in their build-ups. Both have fantastic support from several other NZ athletes, and their Friday race will be a highlight of the Oceanias programme.

Anton Cooper (Christchurch) gets his first opportunity to race an international level event in the Under 19 category - and the Christchurch flier is quietly confident of dominating any competition the Oceania event stacks up against him.

Defending Oceania Elite Mens Downhill champion Cam Cole (Lapierre International, Christchurch) leads a development focussed downhill team at Shepparton. Many of the NZ Downhill athletes making this trip have had strong domestic season results, and are using this as a great opportunity to measure themselves against an always strong Australian Team, while also targeting ranking points before the UCI World Cup season starts at the end of April.

Switching back to Downhill from BMX, Christchurch's Dan Franks travels to Shepparton with the goal of adding the Downhill Junior Mens Oceania title to the BMX Junior Mens Oceania title he won last weekend at Pukekohe.

NZ Team List:
Cross Country
U17 Men
Craig Oliver (Christchurch)
U19 Men
Anton Cooper (Christchurch)
Nigel McDowell (Rotorua)
Tom Bradshaw (Wellington)
Mathew Waghorn (Palmerston North)
Elite/U23 Men
Dirk Peters (Rotorua)
Carl Jones (Whakatane)
Mike Northcott (Tokoroa)
Brad Hudson (Christchurch)
Sam Shaw (Rotorua)
Gavin McCarthy (Wellington)
Dominic Furket (Palmerston North)
Elite/U23 Women
Rosara Joseph (Christchurch)
Karen Hanlen (Whakatane)
Fiona MacDermid (Palmerston North)
Samara Sheppard (Rotorua)
Katie O'Neill (Rotorua)
Eloise Fry (Nelson)
Melissa Newell (Christchurch)
Downhill
U17 Men
Josh McCombie (Dunedin)
U19 Men
Daniel Franks (Christchurch)
Loius Hamilton (Rotorua)
Dan McCombie (Dunedin)
Mat Prior (Auckland)
Elite Men
Cam Cole (Christchurch)
Bryn Dickerson (Porirua)
Nick McConachie (Christchurch)
James McConachie (Christchurch)
Tom Mathews (Christchurch)
U19 Women
Sarah Atkin (Wellington)
Sophie Tyas (Auckland)
Elite Women
Amy Laird (Christchurch)