This was a last minute opportunity for me. Another sporting commitment had meant that I hadn't been able to register with a team, in fact i hadn't been to any Jafakids trainings for a month. So when i turned up on Wednesday night for training, and my mates ( Alex, Liam, Finn and Peter) were down a rider for their team, I knew the stars were aligning.
But... Two days to go, my family couldn't go down so, no transport, no accommodation - a bit of stress! Yet again the awesome Jafakids families came to the rescue. The Beaven family would get me down there and house me the first night, then back with The Page family (thanks heaps Tony Beaven, Meg and Barry Page).
After 'military-style' coordination and an eventful journey down (great driving Harriet) involving lost wallets, we arrived at Taupo Friday evening, and the weather was nowhere as cold or wet as i was expecting. We all chilled out in front of TV at the motel and psyched ourselves for the day ahead.
Arriving at the event grounds an hour before the race start we found a really impressive set up by the Jafakids and DoC crew. Jeff Webb and the Avanti Waitakere team had set up their mobile workshop, which made me feel relaxed about coping with any mechanicals. Now it was just down to my latent fitness and team work.
Numbers were obviously well down on previous years which is real shame. The track was a lot shorter and less challenging than previously, mostly due to the fact that the area had been heavily forested. This would make for fast lap times and short breaks between riders.
The 10am mass start in warm, clear conditions saw Liam charge off in the leading bunch. Unfortunately in the 'pressure cooker' of the first lap he had a wipe out and limped into our first transistion down in the field, and a little bit sore. Such is mountain bike racing.
Liam off to do his first lap.
The mass start.
After 3 hours of intense racing from the boys, we were confident that we were once again doing well. When we went to check our results we found our times hadn't been recorded. In fact, we were sharing our times with the NZ Army boys (so much for our earlier 'military-style' organisation). This was quickly sorted by Murry and the Event Promotions crew.
Liam preparing for a lap
As the weather deteriorated, and the temperature plummeted, my team got faster and faster. After 6 hours of racing we were clearly in 3rd and hunting down the second place team. Our fellow Jafa riders, the Jafakids Gangnam Style crew (led by fellow R&R rider Robin Page), were well in the lead for our division.
By the end of the race it was hammering down and freezing cold, with the track basicly being a bog. we had managed to secure 3rd place, which we were all happy with. Back at the Pages motel and having thawed out in a hot shower, I was more then ready for a good sleep.
My team up on podium with fellow R&R rider Robin Page dancing.
All in all a fantastic event. A huge thank you to my team, Tony Beaven, Meg and Barry Page for making this happen for me, and to the Jafakids DoC crew for making a great environment.
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