Karapoti Classic
Huge Turnout For 20th Karapoti Classic
Michael Jacques / 08.03.2005
A record 1236 entries made the 20th Giant Bicycles Karapoti Classic the biggest and best ever.Twenty years ago just 46 riders turned out for the inaugural Karapoti Classic. This year 1236 started the rugged 50km route through Wellington’s rugged Akatarawa Ranges.
As the longest running mountain bike race in Australasia, the Karapoti Classic has been the premier race on the New Zealand calendar since day one. In the mid-1990s it peaked at 1000 riders for several years. In 2005 the 20th anniversary event attracted a record 1500 entry applications. Organisers stretched their usual limits to allow 1236 starters.
The fastest of these was Nelson professional Tim Vincent. The Swiss-based Nelsonian overcame a puncture and entrants from eleven countries to take his third Karapoti Classic title.
Vincent totally dominated the 20th anniversary event. Early favouritism was with Australian Tim Bennett, the Karapoti runner-up in 2004. But Vincent took control on the first big climb of the race, a 5k long, 500m high haul up Deadwood Ridge. However a puncture on the descent down the Karapoti Classic’s infamous Rock Garden saw Vincent drop back to 4th.
Fourth was where Vincent had finished in the 2004 event. But this time he was undeniable and charging up the final climb on the 400m high Doper’s Hill he took the lead to eventually win ahead of local Upper Hutt hero Wayne Hiscock and Tim Bennett.
A rough and slippery course kept Vincent from challenging the course record of Olympian Kashi Leuchs. But his 2hrs 28min time was good riding on a course still recovering from the stormy weather of the past 12 months. But in the women’s race, Wellington’s Rosara Joseph and Rotorua’s Sonia Foote were on fire.
In the 20-year history of the Karapoti Classic, only four women had broken the magical three-hour mark. In a fascinating race, Rosara Joseph and Sonia Foote both broke the mark, with Joseph confirming her place as New Zealand’s number one mountain biker this year. Joseph won in 2hrs 56min, with Foote just over a minute back.
Former Karapoti junior winner Myra Moller might well have broken three hours as well if not for a bad crash on the rock garden when in contact with the lead pair. Moller was later taken away to hospital, but only after finishing bravely for third place in 3hrs 17min.
Held in perfect conditions for racing, this year’s 20th anniversary event also featured several of the riders from the original 1986 race. The inaugural winner, Tim Galloway, returned from New Plymouth and was one of many taking the nostalgia to extremes by riding the bikes they rode back in 1986. Although 1986 runner-up and former Karapoti Classic race director Simon Kennett chose a modern steed to lead in the originals in a very worthy 20th place overall.
Other features included Minister of Sport Trevor Mallard finishing the gruelling 50km event. Upper Hutt doctor Alistair Rhodes was also back and continued his reign as the only person to have competed in all 20 editors of the Karapoti Classic.
Full results are on www.karapoti.co.nz.
Photo by www.cycle-photos.com.
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