Congratulations to Xanthe Robb, Kiran Taylor, Nico Schroder, Erica Batchelor and Maddi Harrop on your outstanding results!

The first ever New Zealand Enduro National Championships were held earlier this month at  Cable Bay Adventure Park. There were 182 competitors at the event, mostly from around NZ but also some from overseas. A number of Nayland College students competed in the championships and the following five students gained top placings:

Maddi Harrop (Y9, 13yrs) - 1st U15

Nico Schroder (Y11, 14yrs) - 2nd U17

Erica Batchelor (Y12, 16yrs) - 1st U19

Kiran Taylor (Y12, 17yrs) - 1st U19

Xanthe Robb (Y12, 16yrs) - 2nd U21

Over the past couple of weeks we've caught up with most of these students to find out more about their sport, their achievements and their goals going forward. Unfortunately, we were unable to talk in person with Maddi Harrop who is away competing at the Skoda South Island Schools MTB Championships in Queenstown and Xanthe Robb who is overseas competing at the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Series in Tasmania! Congratulations and best wishes to you both! 

UPDATE: 16 year old Xanthe Robb has placed 4th in the U21 world series race in Maydena. Her next race is tomorrow (Saturday) in Derby.

Year 11 student Nico Schroder says he has been mountain biking "forever." Well, since he was little, because his parents did it. From the age of nine, Nico started entering a range of smaller competitions, which grew to bigger ones, before really getting into it competitively from last year. He found taking part in the national enduro competition really fun and he was pleased with his results, especially given that he broke his bike partway through the competition. Thankfully his bike is now fixed and he's out there most days, riding and getting ready for another national event to be held in Blenheim at the end of the year. Nico hopes to one day make it to a world series event and when asked what he loves most about the sport he replied, "Good people and good fun."

Erica Batchelor has been mountain biking since Year 9. She got into the sport through friends when a lot of people at intermediate were doing it. After a few social competitive events, she became more serious about big races over the last year. Erica loves the sport because "it's always different." "You're always going down different tracks," she says. 

Erica came 1st U19 but she's pretty cool about her results and fairly relaxed about her training. As well as getting out for rides, Erica also plays hockey, competes in running races and dabbles in a few other things including adventure racing. Next up she's working towards the Aorere Enduro at the end of April which will involve big hills and big descents up Sharlands, Fringed Hill and Codgers. 

Kiran Taylor is in Year 12 at Nayland College and he only started riding halfway through Year 9. "I actually got peer-pressured by one of my mates," said Kiran. "He offered to come riding with me after school and I joined him, and it all went from there. I just loved it, it's awesome."

When asked how he felt about coming first U19 Kiran replied, "Unreal, it was pretty awesome, and I would have beat the U21 group as well."

With the increased pressure of schoolwork in Year 12, Kiran rides a little less than he did last year. However, he still tries to get out 3-4 times a week. Last week Kiran was away in the North Island competing at Crankworx, a global mountain biking festival that takes place in four international locations across the year, including Rotorua, New Zealand. Despite the weather being really wet and enduring a couple of crashes, Kiran had a lot of fun racing with one of the world's fastest riders and he hit the biggest gap jump he had ever done which was 60ft (18m). 

Long term, Kiran would like to take a gap year after school and take a couple of months to go and race in the EWS (Enduro World Series). He said the thing he likes most about mountain biking is the "exposure to locations and experiences all around the place." 

Congratulations again to Maddi, Xanthe, Nico, Erica & Kiran! We wish you all the best for your upcoming competitions and we're looking forward to hearing the results from both the Skoda South Island Schools MTB Championships and the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Series!