Down but not out at Mountainbike Park

Hawke's Bay riders featured in the top two places in the Pro Elite section of the third round of the NZDH New Zealand North Island Mountainbike Downhill Championships held at the Pan Pac Mountainbike Park in Eskdale over the weekend.

Event organiser Carl Larsen said George Brannigan and Brook Macdonald, of the Hawke's Bay Mountainbike Club, won first and second place respectively when their times were calculated at the end of racing on Sunday afternoon.

"Everyone knew that Brook Macdonald was going to be on the podium," he said.

"He's ranked sixth in the world, but it was a matter of who was going to challenge him, and George did that on the day."

Saturday and Sunday mornings were used for practice on the 1.5km aptly named Hi-Roller track at Eskdale before the timed races began on Sunday afternoon.

"Each rider had two timed runs down the track and the best time of the two is the one that counts for the results at the end of the day."

There were 134 entries across seven age categories at the championship, with about "two spectators for each rider" spread throughout the course.

"Most of the people who came to watch were friends and family of the riders," Mr Larsen said. "In total I think we would have had about 500 people there during the weekend."

Round four of the NZDH will be held in Taupo on November 19-20, round five in Auckland on December 3-4 and round six in Tauranga on December 28-29.