NZSS Mountain Biking Champs

By Andrew Willmott | Posted: Wednesday October 19, 2022

13 - 16 October 2022 - Bluff Hill, Invercargill.

With a number of Mountain Biking events being cancelled, or down-scaled, due to Covid restrictions in recent years it was fantastic to see this event proceed, and to be so well supported from schools throughout the country. There was in fact 105 Senior Schools that were represented! In an acknowledgement of this, Bluff turned on its best weather with the tracks becoming almost too dry over the course of the weekend.

The championships ran over four days and consisted of events for three mountain biking disciplines, Enduro (multi-stage downhill), Downhill and Cross Country. Otago Boys’ High School was represented by five riders, two of whom entered themselves in all three disciplines (Shaun Hasler and James Howard); this was a requirement for students to be considered for overall awards.

The boy’s results are listed below but it needs to be acknowledged that this was a New Zealand Championships, and the fields were super competitive. The results our boys achieved were fantastic and reflected the efforts they have put into preparing.

A big thank you to the families that went down Invercargill for the event and supported the boys with this.

Enduro (Day 1) - Thursday 13 October - Bluff Hill, Invercargill

U-16 Boys
Shaun Hasler 10th/32
Sef Johnston 28th

U-20 Boys

James Howard 7th/21
James Gardner 20th

Downhill (Day 3) - Saturday 15 October - Bluff Hill, Invercargill

U-16 Boys
Shaun Hasler 13th/30
Sef Johnston 29th

U-17 Boys
Alex Gilchrist 6th/29

U-20 Boys
James Howard 16th/21

XC (Day 4) - Sunday 16 October - Bluff Hill, Invercargill

U-16 Boys
Shaun Hasler 8th/19

U-20 Boys
James Gardner 5th/25
James Howard 7th