The rain came down, the track slicked up and the hearty survived at the 2018 Oceania MTB Championship downhill race in Dunedin, New Zealand.
The rain came to Dunedin, New Zealand, and turned the Signal Hill downhill track into an ice skating rink for race day at the 2018 Oceania DH Championships. Never before have I seen so many riders pull out of an event on race day. It was not an easy track, and it wasn't so much a matter of "will I crash?" but "when will I crash?" The course is rugged.
Despite waiting around in the rain all day, competitors enjoyed the event and it all ran smoothly. A red flag in Elite Men's finals (for the last 6 riders) made for interesting racing, as those riders were given re-runs, and more-or-less begrudgingly took them. The idea of getting into the headspace to race down the treacherous track a second time was a mind-bending feat. It was a rowdy affair to say the least, which can be plainly seen in the dadcam footage Eddie Masters compiled. Madness.
Elite Men's Top 5 (based on time, not Oceania-only placing)
Full results can be viewed here
bizutch
2/12/2018 9:57 AM
I hope whoever "Pig" is, he's OK.
fun house
2/12/2018 12:10 AM
Dumb question: What kind of champs is this race? It is obviusly different than the NZ or AUS champs... is it just bragging rights or is there any other UCI honour such as a sleeve?
sideshow
2/12/2018 11:59 PM
Sort of explained in Day 1: https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/Oceanias-Action-and-Audios-from-Practice,2198
But, there were UCI points at stake, it was a Cat 1 event. It's more of a "bragging rights" event v. a special jersey or trophy. It's in the spirit of uniting a region often left out on a global scale of competition due to it not actually being a contiguous landmass i.e. Pan Ams, Euro Champs, or UK Champs.
jeff.brines
2/11/2018 6:43 PM
Such a great piece.