Richmond rider Henry Jaine made an impressive return to racing, blitzing all-comers in the Port Nelson Kaiteriteri Six Hour Mountainbike Relay held on a fast, flowing course around the Kaiteriteri Mountainbike Park on Saturday.
Henry has been out of action since crashing and breaking his collarbone in the Karapoti Classic near Wellington in February. But the talented young rider showed all the hours of sitting on the stationary wind-trainer during his recovery paid off when he blasted around the 8.5km circuit 14 times on his way to winning the solo men’s race in 5hr 47min 30sec.
In fact, Henry was so fast he even finished ahead of the top men’s team. He also recorded the fastest lap of the day, a blistering 23min 41sec, and on the way to victory accumulated a leg-burning 2000m of climbing .
“It was a slower race than last year because it was a longer course and there was more climbing – this year I did about 2000m of climbing,”
“It’s the first time I’ve ridden my mountainbike in about eight weeks. I’ve been on my wind-trainer and road bike so I’ve got the fitness it was just a matter of pacing myself and eating and drinking lots.
“I really enjoyed it. I had two bad laps just before the finish but the last one was good because my energy levels came up – you can’t ride fast all day.”
Wade Jennings was the second solo rider, finishing 13 laps in 6hr 1min 51sec while Cameron Jones, 16, was third completing 13 laps in 6hr 2min 58sec. Liv Bishop was the fastest female solo rider recording 11 laps in 5hr 57min 42sec.
The top men’s team of Jase Christie, Hamish Berkett, Brad Collins and Patrick Higgins completed 14 laps in 5hr 48min 14sec while the fastest women’s team of Zoe and Jacquie Nathan completed 11 laps in 5hr 55min 1sec. The mixed section was won by Kieran Hambrook, Tom Ashley and Claire Reweti who rode 12 laps in 5hr 40min 35sec.
The Garin Girls, Alisha Lewis, Sophia Kersten and Taneeka Lewis won the College girls section with 10 laps in 5hr 39min 33sec, Carlyn Goodman, Campbell Grooby and Hunter Chung won the College Boys with 12 laps in 5hr 46min 16sec while the Waimea College Adventure team of Theo Smith, Luke Born, Ryan Doyle and Maddie Mitchell won the College Mixed race with 11 laps in 5hr 41min 10sec.
Will Keay won Sunday’s Jaws Enduro race held on the Jaws, Skullduggery and Treehugger tracks in 15min 42sec. Riley Warrander was second just 0.3sec adrift while Aidan Limmer was third in 15min 43.3sec. Jo Perrott was the fastest woman finishing in 17min 12.9sec. Aidan won the competition, the Big Airs Whip-Off.
