karapoti 08

Jordan had a blinder at the "Poti" in the weekend. On a Santa-Cruz borrowed from his buddy Alex he came away with a 5th place overall and smashed the under 19 record by around 8 minutes. 2.26 is a time anyone who has done Karapoti would love to have in their palmares. The conditions were some of the best, if not the best we have ever seen, with a real lack of rain this summer. 2nd and 3rd places went to local riders Wayne Hiscock and Jord's VIC team mate Gavin mcCarthy. Gav has been on a roll this year, and its good to have such a high local standard for the younger riders to aspire to.

Next up is the Oceania champs in Nelson on the 14th of March. The aussie riders traditionally school the kiwis, but this year's national series and supporting races seem to have been laid out better to me, so maybe the kiwis will be in better form than in previous years?

The course is rumoured to be largely non-technical with wide trails and short climbs. In short, a bit of a roadies course. Fingers crossed the kiwi contingent can score some points against their trans-tasman cuzzies.

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Oceania champ! (RETRO POST FROM THE ARCHIVES)

Jordan has had another epic race last weekend. In only his 2nd Oceania MTB champs he has come away with a win. Towards the end of the race I was on the phone to his dad. Jordan had a lap to go and was in 3rd place about 50 seconds down.
His dad said "Anything could happen Jeff".
I know this well. MTB racing is like that. Its not over til its over.

The aussie who was in the lead exploded big time and Jord hunted down the kiwi in front, Alex McGregor. Alex was having one of his best races of the year on the challenging course but wasnt able to summon up enough to keep Jord behind him. Once again, Jordan did the fastest last lap of a kiwi in any class. Okay, they only did 4 laps compared to the pro-elites 6, but I am guessing they are doing twice the training Jordan is.

Unfortunately that will be Jordans last "international" appearance as an under 19 rider. This year he will be 18, so next year he will be 19, and have to race under 23 at the MTB worlds. A very big step up. Check out Jordans story here, the full XC results here and some abbreviated results below.

It sounds like Jordan's Wellingtonian clubmate Samara Sheppard had a very similar race, with Samara catching one of her Aussie opponents on the last lap. See Samara's blog here.

U19 Men
1 Jordan Blake (New Zealand)             1.26.19
2 Alex Mcgregor (New Zealand)               0.22
3 George Bennett (New Zealand)              1.30 He's done alright eh? !
4 Dirk Peters (New Zealand)                 1.41
5 Peter Braunsteins (Australia)             3.27
6 Kieran Hambrook (New Zealand)             3.42
7 Ash Hough (New Zealand)                   4.20
8 Scott Green (New Zealand)                 4.49
9 Luke Fetch (Australia)                    5.41
10 Patrick Avery (New Zealand)              6.11 RIP
11 David Johnston (Australia)               6.13
12 Brendan Johnston (Australia)            11.47
13 Mike Nuy (New Zealand)                  11.57
14 James Peacock (Australia)               19.52

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