PHOTOS | Dom Blissett
The Mammoth Enduro was held in Nelson on the weekend on the 23rd & 24th of March. Billed as the toughest Enduro in NZ, this year didn’t disappoint with sunny weather, grade 5/6 descents and plenty of long, steep climbs for the racers to sink their teeth into.
This was the 10th year that the Mammoth has been run in the Enduro format. You can read all about the history of the Mammoth in the NZ Mountain Biker Magazine.
STAGE 1 | PUTAKARI
This year stage 1 was raced on Saturday afternoon after practice. Riders were shuttled to the top of Kaka hill overlooking the Nelson Haven. Always a favourite, Putakari was the perfect first stage, with a good variety of roots, rocks, tech and flow to give riders a taste of what was to come for the rest of the weekend.
STAGE 2 | TE ARA KOA/ FDH / BUTTERS
Sitting at 793 meters above seas level, Fringed hill is the perfect mountain bikers playground. Spoilt for choice, trail selection was difficult so 3 trails were combined to make 1 mega stage. After a shuttle to the top, racers set off from Fringed hill down Te Ara Koa then across the skid site to FDH (Fringed Downhill) eventually making their way to Butters. At 3.3km long this was the longest stage of the race.
STAGE 3 | KOATA MARAMA/ SMASHER
After a short liaison (in Mammoth terms) to the Firball Trig, riders arrived at the start of stage 3. Fast, flowy and grade 4, Koata Marama was a good track to refresh the hands before dropping straight back into double black territory, Lower Smasher. Riders then made their way along the Maitai walkway back to the event village.
STAGE 4 | PEAKING RIDGE
After a quick refresh with some gummy lollies and egg rolls, bikes were loaded back on the shuttle vehicles for the second and last shuttle of the day. Disembarking at the start of E Tū riders made their way along Sunrise ridge to Peaking Ridge. One of the crown jewels of Nelson mountain biking, Peaking never disappoints. Long, rooty, fast with plenty of crunchy beech forest, served with a nice side of arm pump. Dropping down to the valley floor it was then back up the hill to 629.
STAGE 5 | 629
Basically a whole sh*# ton of fun is how 629 can be described. Starting at 629 meters above sea level, the trail begins in delicious native bush before dropping into narrow singletrack with steep hairpins and chutes with plenty of swoopy, pumpy goodness in between, finally finishing off with a bit more gnar to the trail end at Maitai Valley road.
STAGE 6 | MAITAI FACE
With one last grunt to the top of the final race stage, riders were treated with a spread of yummy treats at Maitai Whare Iti . With energy stocks replenished it was back on the horse and up the hill. The best way to describe Maitai Face is STEEP. With dropping corners and off camber goodness Maitai Face is near impossible to ride in the wet, luckily for the riders trails conditions were bone dry with racers making it to the finish line with a massive smile on their face.
After 6 stages of racing over 2 epic days times were tight. A Massive effort to everyone who raced!
Congratulations to Shannon Hewetson taking out 1st place Elite Men, with Kieran Bennett in 2nd place and Loui Harvey rounding out the podium in 3rd.
In the Elite Women category there was less than 1 second separating 1st and 2nd place with Winni Goldsbury just pipping Rae Morrison for 1st place with Xanthe Robb putting in an awesome ride for 3rd place.
Full race results can be found here
All tactics went out the window and luck came into play as riders and volunteers lined up for the Reserve Wheels coin toss. Congratulations to Matt Smith, taking home a set of Reserve Wheels. Matt does a lot of volunteer trail work for the NMTBC so it was awesome to see the wheels go to such a deserving winner.
A huge thanks goes out to the Nelson Mountain Bike Club and their awesome team of volunteers, without you these events can’t run so a massive cheers goes out to you!
