As you may recall, last month I wrote about my role models and how important it is to have good role models who care about us and help us work out the hard things in life. I’ve been really lucky to have Richard Hamer, Jonny Evetts and Michaela Wellauer in my life, who support me in my mountain biking.
When I was at Whakatane Intermediate, not long after I started riding, I heard in the notices about Aims Games. I looked into it some more, and I saw that there was a section for mountain biking. I was starting to get more confident with riding around then, so I decided to try out for the team. I talked to the teacher, Mr. Cochrane, and he told me some more about it - he said I needed to be much fitter. From that day I started to ride up the Mokorua hill every day. I wasn’t very fast when I started, but I got a lot faster as time went on.
Before we could get to Aims Games, I was offered to compete in a relay race at Onepu MTB Park, on the Zephyr trail. I was familiar with Zephyr, so I was really excited. I started training on Zephyr a lot, and I was happy with my results. I had two coaches while I was training for racing: Hannah Thompson and Josh Barry. They both helped me with cornering and jumping, along with general fitness, and lots of encouragement. On the day of the Zephyr race, I was doing really well, having fun doing some jumps. Then, around 30 minutes before my race, I went really flat on the last jump on the easy jump line, and I went flying into a pit of mud. My entire body was covered, and I looked like I was straight out of a war movie scene in the trenches. Sam Knapton picked me up out of the puddle, helped me check my bike, and made sure I was ok. I didn’t hurt myself too badly, so I could still race.
Soon after my crash, we lined up, ready to go. My first teammate went, and he was quite fast, so I knew I had to be ready to go quickly. He came flying around the corner and tapped me in. I quickly put my dropper post up, started sprinting up to the line, and at the line, quickly hopped onto my bike. I rode as fast as I could, all the way to the start of Zephyr. I kept a consistent pace all the way through, and as soon as I got to the end of Zephyr, I quickly did a skid into the corner and started pedalling as hard as I could. I sprinted hard, and I got to the end where I saw my next teammate ready for his turn, I then hopped off my bike and ran with it as fast as I could before tapping him in. I was exhausted! We ended up getting second in our relay race, and we were stoked. I have never really cared much for winning races, but I like it when I am on a team and the team does well.
I was really into racing from this point, and the Aims Games race was coming up fast, so I kept on training hard. I got really fit and had very strong legs. Then, when I finally got to the race, I was feeling so ready for it. I rode as hard and fast as I could - I did my absolute best. I was nowhere near winning the race, but I was happy that I even finished it! It was two laps around Summerhill, and they were difficult. Not to mention it was a crazy 28⁰C day, in September - it was so hot that riders were fainting, and many did not finish the race. From that point on, I have loved racing on my bike, and even more than racing, I just love being on my bike, training with my mates.
This month my team has competed in the North Island Secondary Schools MTB Champs in Rotorua, as part of the international Crankworx events. Our team has 12 people: Arran Dominic, Liam Burgess, Logan Jephson, Noah Vullings, Walker Turner, Luca Goodman, Ollie Peat, Beren Pearce, Barclay Fort, Kalani Robinson, Mason Philpott and me. Arran had an injury that prevented him from racing this time - but he is still on our team.
At the end of last year we started with me and my mate Logan. I had asked Mum if there were any enduro races coming up that we could compete in for school. We found some local races that we ended up competing in, and got excited about the North Islands. We asked our Head of Sport at Whakatane High School, Mr Sexton, if we could enter and he said we could. He offered Mum the use of the school bike trailer and a van. Mum didn’t expect us to have 12 people, but that is what happened, and Mum became a Team Manager for our team.
Every weekend for 13 weeks, often twice a week, Mum would drive a van full of us over to the Redwoods, so we could practise on the actual competition enduro and cross-country tracks. All the members of our team competed in the Enduro. Enduro is the one everyone wants to ride in, so it is very limited. Only 500 riders can compete and there are always a lot who apply, but don’t get in. Amazingly, our whole team made the start list. For our Enduro race, we rode Box of Birds, Gunna Gotta, Te Huinga, and Old Exit. All of us completed the course within time and all of us were happy with our results. Kalani Robinson even got a top 20 finish. My actual race was really amazing, but I did have a quite bad crash on my first stage on Box of Birds. Because of that crash, I ended up not being at a level of competition with others, so I was quite disappointed, but also just so happy that I was there. I know that next year I will be stronger, faster and will do better.
Whakatane High School also put in a relay team (Mason, Logan and I) and two XC (cross country) riders (Noah and Ollie). We all did well.
Mum said that she's committed to our racing team for the next three years until I finish high school. My Mum really is the best person to have in the world when you have something you want to do. She is always there to make our lives better, gives us advice, and cooks sausages for us after our training and our races - every time.
On behalf of our team I want to thank all the people who helped us in our races, not only on the race days but also in the leadup to the race. First I want to thank Whakatane High School and Mr Sexton for saying “yes”. Thank you to our teacher in charge, Ms. Rachelle Owen-Cooper (OC) for taking us to the WAIBOP race when Mum had to work, and supporting the team at the North Islands. Thank you Brenda from Cafe Coco for providing fresh muffins and baked goods for the team on multiple occasions, and for giving our team and the Whakatane Intermediate team fresh muffins on XC day for breakfast. Thank you Renske, our school sports coordinator, for doing all the background work to get our entries in on time - Mum says Renske could be a cat juggler. Thank you to all the families who provided kai for us and helped Mum with getting things organised. And thanks to BlueLight Whakatane for the use of the van when the school did not have a spare van.
Now we are back to training, for the Nationals in Christchurch in October. I’ll tell you about that then. Good luck to the Intermediate riders who will soon race at Aims Games.
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