CSS XC Champs

The Mountain Biking year started with the Cross Country (XC) Championships on the Crocodile Track at the Halswell Quarry.  This series is held over 5 weeks, with the final week of racing being the Canterbury Secondary School XC Championships.  After some solid racing in the weeks leading up to the CSS Champs, our riders hopes of making a podium were dashed when the event had to be cancelled due to extreme weather

SISS Champs

As a part of the New Zealand Secondary Schools (NZSS) Summer Tournament Week a group of three BHS bikers competed at the South Island Secondary Schools Mountain Biking Championships at Coronet Peak in Queenstown. Despite it only being the start of Autumn, Winter was making itself felt at Coronet Peak during Summer Tournament Week and the 2023 South Island Secondary School Mountain Biking Championships. Some terrible weather including some snow fall on the peaks almost derailed the competition but with a delay of just one day the riders were able to go ahead. The muddy conditions didn't slow up the riding any, with our riders achieving some really good results:

• Dylan Patchett - Enduro 18th; Downhill 31st
• Torin Rothery - Downhill 18th
• Jacob - Downhill 27th

NZSS Champs

In the October school holidays the NZSS champs were held in ideal conditions in Blenheim.  Alex Guillemot was our only competitor at this event. He had a tight run in the Enduro placing 25th. After some solid practice runs and an 'off' in the Downhill seeding, he was looking to have a blistering run in the Downhill but a puncture in the last rock garden meant that he had to settle for 26th in the Downhill competition.

CAP - Downhill Challenge

In Term 4, the Christchurch Adventure Park (CAP) for the first time offered a secondary schools downhill competition.  We had 13 riders entered in this competition, taking place over 6 weeks at CAP.  

The focus of this racing was for riders to build on their skills with the difficulty of the trail increasing each week. That didn't stop an intense rivalry building between our riders, with them all keenly checking their times at the bottom of each run - there was often only split seconds between riders.  

Dylan Patchett was our best placed rider after 6 weeks of riding, he placed 11th overall. Eleventh place as Year 9 is an excellent effort as this was a mixed year group/ages event.