First, the weather forecast was upset, the promised southerly showers didn't arrive, and the sun shone brilliantly. As indeed it has for each of the MTBO events so far!
Then Marco Renalli came through on the long 18.5km course to win the open mens class for the first time, in a time of 86 minutes. The veteran MTB racer has been steadily climbing up the field from 5th, to 2nd, and now a win. Although early starter Mirko Zatezalo held the top place for quite a while, but Renalli squeaked in with two minutes to spare. There was a bit of tension waiting for the Whitby winner Steve Holden's expected arrival, but he was 11 minutes down; and for Tunnel Gully winner Julian Cox, but he was 8 minutes adrift.
The "if only" story came from continental rider Ramon Mira who had to rejoin a chain, and continued with a damaged derailleur to finish between Cox and Holden. The longest course of the series so far climbed from the Hutt River at Moonshine Bridge almost to the 417m Mt Cecil trig, before traversing the pylon track and descending via two newly-created tracks to emerge onto Moonshine Road above Craigs Flat.
The third upset came in the Open Womens class where Sue Lyttle (who is supposed to be resting her achilles) finished one second ahead of Sharon Harris, in spite of an unconventional route choice from the last control to the finish! The 12.5km Course 2 climbed to the pylon track via some different controls, and returned by the same route as Course 1.
Also on Course 2, orienteer Neil Kane upset the hitherto unbeaten Vet Mens winner Graeme Silcock, albeit only by 8 seconds, but this was a fine effort given that the steep terrain with relatively straightforward navigation should have suited the Hutt Valley Mountainbike Club member.
Colin Barr overcame a DNF at Tunnel Gully with a win in the Junior Mens class, and the fastest time on Course 2 at 71 minutes. And on the 9km Course 3 Christine de Roo claimed her second Vet Womens win with a time of 58 minutes, while junior Andrew Whiteford trying MTBO for the first time scooped the fastest course time of just under 46.
Going into the last event of the series, Cox has a two-point lead over Renalli, but Renalli's worst result (which may be discarded) is exactly two points less. So the Waitarere Forest event, which is also the Wellington Championship, will be crucial. Lyttle appears to be ahead on points but Taranaki's Jacqui Sinclair chose to avoid the long drive to this event, whereas the Wairarapa rider will have to discard up to 30 points.
In the other classes, Silcock looks to have a handy margin over Kane in the Vet Men, even allowing for dropping their respective worst scores. But the flatter terrain at Waitarere and its maze of tracks will tip the balance towards navigation, and the orienteer could well topple the biker. Meanwhile Colin Barr needs to worry about Blake Sinclair, only 3 points behind. With Sinclair having the greater orienteering experience and both have a zero-pointer to drop its going to be another cliff-hanger.
Full results are on the result
page, as is the Points table.
The Waitarere event will be run on 26 August, 5 weeks before the
inaugural NZ Championship at Hanmer.