mike stylianou
Director - Hyperformance Hardware Ltd
stylie_mike@hyperformance.nz
+64 21 855 011
Facebook | facebook.com/hyperformancehardware
Instagram |stylie_mike
Twitter | @stylie_mike
Sandra Williams
Director - Hyperformance Hardware Ltd
sandra@hyperformance.nz
+64 21 896 724
Facebook | facebook.com/JulianaBicyclesNewZealand
Instagram |julianabicyclesnz
CAM COLE
Team Manager - Hyperformance Hardware Ltd
+64 27 337 7773
camcole@hyperformance.nz
Facebook | facebook.com/hyperformancehardware
Chris Mildon
BOS Suspension New Zealand
chris.mildon@gmail.com
+64 21 230 9120
FACEBOOK | facebook.com/BosMTBNewZealand
Ambassadors
EMMA BATEUP
RIDES | Juliana Strega
If you're riding around the hills of Nelson you might just bump into Emma Bateup shredding trails with a smile on her face. This year Emma will set-off for the UK in March where she will base herself for the 2020 season. Her goal is to complete all 8 rounds of the Enduro World Series and push herself and build skills throughout the year. Emma has been riding bikes her whole life and credits the discovery of mountain biking to her younger brother. A naturally competitive person, Emma is drawn towards the personal challenge of racing both Enduro and Downhill and has gathered a swag of podiums to her name including 2nd woman at the 2017 Mammoth Enduro. Learnings along the way haven't just been about skill and speed, but about managing fitness, injury and other setbacks that only make her more determined to achieve her goals. It's not all about racing, big mission adventures and shredding with mates, like the team at Gravity Nelson are top of Emma's list for a good day out.
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Finn Hawkesby-Browne
RIDES | Santa Cruz V10, Santa Cruz Nomad
Finn Hawkesby-Browne grew up terrorising the Cashmere streets below the Port Hills mountain bike trails on his scooter. It comes as no surprise that this affinity with two wheels grew to mountain biking of the extreme nature. Now an all-around gravity rider Finn pushes himself between the tape at national level enduro and downhill events across the country and to great success. At Crankworx Rotorua 2018 Finn won the Redwoods DH and placed second at the Oceania Championships in Dunedin. In 2019 Finn claimed 2nd overall in U19 men at the NZ National DH series. Finn then headed overseas for a taste of the international scene racing some world cups and even taking out first place in U19 at the IXS European Cup in Pila. This year Finn joins the Lusty Hyperformance Racing team. His plan for the 2020 season is to make it to all the World Cup rounds and World Champs with the aim to be constantly in the top 10 (so he can be in A practice!), have some top 5 finishes in Junior Men, podium at World’s and of course have fun riding his bike!
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Rebecca HuffleTt
RIDES | Santa Cruz Blur, Santa Cruz Bronson
After a stellar 2018 season Bex moved up into the U17 category for 2019 to carry on her winning ways. Bex started the year taking 1st place in the U17 women XC at the NZ National Champs, she then followed that up with a second place in the U17 women DH. She took out 1st place overall in U16 women at the NZ secondary schools national MTB champs. Bex’s highlight of 2019 was racing the Aorere Enduro in Nelson. Being her first proper enduro race it was a trial run but she ended up absolutely loving it, going on to place 1st in U21 female & 2nd female overall in a very strong field. Bex said “The atmosphere was awesome, and as a discipline it incorporates all the things I love most about riding”. Bex is Keen to roll with that and incorporate some more enduro racing into the up and coming season. Bex is looking forward to seeing what new adventures this year has to offer. As she says “mountain bike racing is totally unpredictable you never know what type of ride you are in for.”
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Caleb bottcher
RIDES | Santa Cruz Blur & Santa Cruz Tallboy
Caleb is a cross country racer from Central Bicycle Studio in Palmy North. Caleb found mountain biking 7 years ago when he got too fast for riding alongside his distance-running father and hasn't looked back since!
A product of the booming Manawatu scene, he has climbed through the ranks to represent New Zealand at the World Champs as a Junior in both 2018 and 2019. His racing highlight is making it through a third of the Worlds field to place 46th at Mont St Anne. Now a first year U23 and member of the National MTB Performance hub, Caleb looks forward to targeting the squad's USA and European campaigns in 2020 whilst studying a Bachelor of Accountancy. He is happiest when drinking coffee, listening to music and doing long rides in the sun!
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brady stone
RIDES | Santa Cruz Megatower
Brady Stone has the demeanour of a Judge but he rides his Bronson 3 like an escaped convict. He cleaned out the entire field at the 2018 Mammoth Enduro in Nelson by taking the fastest total race time for the day. Coming into the 2019 EWS season he didn’t expect anything, but ended up winning U21 men at the first round in Rotorua. Brady was then able to carry on and compete in the whole series due to support from locals back in Nelson & his family. With podiums at 5 of the 8 rounds he finished the year off with 2nd place overall in U21 men, which he was stoked with! He can't thank everyone enough for making it possible. Coming into 2020 Brady will be racing the full EWS season and I'm aiming to improve on his 2nd place overall from 2019 and claim the U21 world title. He’s been training hard at Tasman Performance back in Nelson this summer to prep for the upcoming EWS races, “it's been a huge help having Jason Hylkema training me specifically for enduro racing (I wouldn't have a clue otherwise)”. Brady’s highlight from last season was travelling to countries he had never been to before and being able to ride and race there! Looking forward to more of the same this year!
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Tuhoto-Ariki Pene
RIDES | Santa Cruz V10, Santa Cruz Bronson
Tuhoto-Ariki Pene was born on wheels. Now residing in Maketu. He grew up racing BMX and honed his bike skills for years before making the switch to bigger knobbier tyres. Tuhoto’s name was on everyone’s lips at the 2017 edition of Crankworx Rotorua after a stand out performance in the pump track finals night show. In 2018 Tuhoto proved that he has made a comfortable switch to the bigger wheels taking the Junior Men’s National Downhill title. He showed his rapid development and proven psychological approach to racing which includes music and kicking back, again at the 2018 World Mountain Bike champs where he placed 7th in the Junior under 19 men still as a 17-year-old. In 2019 Tuhoto claimed his best result yet with a 1st place in Junior men at the UCI MTB World Cup in Val Di Sole, Italy. He then followed that great result with a 3rd place in Junior men at the UCI MTB World Champs in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada. Tuhoto will be joining the Lusty Hyperformance Racing team for the 2020 season, fresh from taking the overall title at the 2020 NZ National DH Series.
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Robin Pieper
RIDES | JULIANA MAVERICK
Robin has the twin unfair advantage of spending her childhood in the outdoor meccas of the South Island's West Coast and Central Otago. An early addiction to whitewater kayaking gave way to mountain biking after four shoulder injuries made descending rivers a little too challenging on her body. Now based in Alexandra, Robin reckons Enduro’s the Goldilocks of mountain biking, being the perfect balance of skill, fitness and adrenalin, while being a super fun way to spend all day on the bike and cover some ground.
Over the past couple years Robin has worked her way up the ranks of the New Zealand race scene, with podiums scattered across the likes of DME, 2W Gravity Enduro, and Aorere Enduro. It’s not all races though, with the highlight of 2019 being a bikepacking trip through Nepal. For 2020, Robin’s looking forward to riding as many trails in the South island as possible, and being on the start line for EWS Round 1 2021 as it comes to Nelson, NZ!
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Cam Beck
RIDES | Ibis Ripmo
Coming from and growing up in Rotorua it was only natural that Cam Beck would discover bikes. Now 16 Cam has been riding for nearly 7 years and has been racing for half of that. His calm head and relaxed riding style has lead to a number of impressive race results in 2019 including a 6th Overall at the Giant 2W Enduro World Series Qualifier, a 4th at U17 National DH Champs, 5th in U17 in DH at the Oceania Champs along with a 4th Place at the Aorere Enduro in Nelson, and 1st overall in U16 at the National Secondary Schools Championships in Dunedin. In 2020 Cam is looking forward to racing his first year as a junior, hopefully racing the Enduro World Series and a few DH World Cups along the way.
Boaz hebblethwaitE
RIDES | Santa Cruz V10
I'm Boaz Hebblethwaite, 20 years of age from Christchurch, New Zealand.
I've been riding bikes since I can remember and have always loved racing from a young age. From competing in my first ever race in 2011, Downhill has been my passion and main focus ever since! For 2021 I want to race as much as possible. The NZ National series will be my main focus for our southern hemisphere season, with the big goal being to race the European World Cups later in the year. With the current situation around the world we'll find out closer to the time whether I'll be heading overseas but I'm definitely super keen if it's possible!
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JODIE FA'AVAE
RIDES | Juliana Furtado
Jodie Fa’avae started mountain biking in 1990, she borrowed a front suspension mountain bike in 1992 and won her first NZ Downhill Mountain Bike Title. Her second downhill race was the American Junior Final Round in Colorado, and her third race was the World Championships in Canada. While picking herself and her bike up after crashing, Julie Furtado went whizzing past and went on to win her only World Downhill Title. Jodie went onto to win 7 NZ Downhill Titles. Fast forward to 2020 - I love riding my Juliana Joplin with friends on Adventures and just getting out in the hills - Old Ghost, Heaphy, Rameka, Coppermine. I also love riding with my three children - 14, 16 and 17
Jodie organises the biggest adventure race in New Zealand - The Spring Challenge where teams of 3-women raft, bike and run.
Kieran Bennett
RIDES | Santa Cruz V10, BOS Idyll Fork. Santa Cruz HightowerLT 29.
Kieran has spent most of his life on two wheels starting out on motorbikes and bmx's before finding a passion for mountain biking, mostly of the downhill variety. This eventually led to several years racing in Europe and the USA on the World Cup downhill circuit.
His impressive CV includes 2012 NZ #4, 2008 Oceania Champion, 2x US National DH Round Wins, 2007 NZ National Champion, 2006 NZ #3, 2005 NZ Junior National Champion.
These days he resides in Christchurch where he works in sales and marketing while still racing Enduro and downhill races throughout New Zealand.
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meagan robertson
RIDES | Juliana Roubion
Wellington-based Canadian Meagan Robertson only found true love (of mountain biking) in 2010 in Squamish BC when her flatmate introduced her to sport. She introduced him to his wife – she reckons they’re even. Since transplanting to Wellington in 2011, Meagan has thrown herself into the scene wholeheartedly. She attended her first Revolve Cycling ride months after arriving, and has been invested in the women’s cycling club ever since – first as a ride leader, then as a committee member and, since 2016, as president. Keen to use her skills – as a communications/PR specialist – to contribute to the trails she enjoys, but not so handy on the tools, she joined Trail Fund NZ in 2013 as their communications manager. There’s nothing Meagan enjoys more than seeing women getting involved in, and realising the awesomeness of, mountain biking. This motivated her to help coach the next generation of women MTBers through the Wellington Off-Road Department (WORD), where she guides the 7 - 9 year old shredders (guys and gals) of tomorrow! She was also very excited to welcome her very own future shredder in July 2020, and Isabella already has a helmet ready and waiting!
In her “spare” time, she also writes articles and reviews for NZMTBR.
BRIAN ALDER
RIDES | Santa Cruz Highball 27.5”, Santa Cruz Hightower, Bos Deville 140 fork, Ibis wheelset
Brian has been having adventures around the globe for a long time, generally up high and far from civilisation. He’s been riding mountain bikes since the 80’s and has combined his passion for wilderness and biking into many out there adventures.
A stalwart of the Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club, Brian has been instrumental in the running of the Club’s annual Milk and Honey Race, an event like no other, and marshalling for other legendary events like the NZ Enduro In his day job, Brian works as a guide on the Nelson’s famous back country trails the Heaphy Track and Old Ghost Rd and also guides on cycles tours in the outer reaches of the cycling world through western China and Kyrgyzstan.
For kicks Brian has a knack for riding a long way, like a really long way. Always a contender in local bikepacking epics like the Kiwi and Great Southern Brevets, he finished 5th in the 2016 Tour Divide, riding 4500km in 16.5 days.
Emma Bawtree
RIDES | Juliana Roubion
Based in the South Island, Emma is the founder of Wheel Woman mountain bike workshops and, on a quick tally, reckons has coached more than 800 woman! In 2015 she launched Krankin' Kids coaching, which has gone from strength to strength, increasing from 20 in the first year to 300 in 2018. As numbers grow, so does the need for coaches and behind the scenes work on processes and certifications to keep things running smoothly and safely. With this in mind, Emma gained her NZOIA / Skills Active Assessor for Coaches qualification. While racing on the national circuit may be a distant memory for Emma, there is plenty of challenge and enjoyment racing to keep up with her son and daughter,and sharing skills to help other woman feel empowered and happy on their bikes.
Brenda Clapp & Chris Burr
BRENDA RIDES | Juliana Roubion, Bos Deville AM fork. Santa Cruz Chameleon 29
CHRIS RIDES | Santa Cruz 5010. Santa Cruz Chameleon 27Plus.
If you’re 26 or younger, Chris and Brenda aka 'Bob' have been riding mountain bikes longer than you have been alive. After many many years of racing mountain bikes around New Zealand and the world (with a couple of National and Oceania titles, and course records between them), they finally got tired of travelling to nice exotic locations and racing the same loop for 2 hours. So, the washed up XC racers got trail bikes, a Landrover and a dog, and started exploring. They can be spotted in an occasionally good camping spot, sneaking in a Tour Aotearoa or helping out at top notch events, like the ‘NZ Enduro, ‘DME’ and ‘Coppermine’, or at demo day doing bike set ups.
