1 mountain, 2 events, 1 day.

Downhill speed and courage. Cross Country stamina and distance. Crank Taupo delivers the best of both in Taupo on Saturday 22 May 2010.

Taking place on and around Mount Tauhara, the event combines 2 of the best known forms of mountain biking over one day.

The Downhill (DH) track will be designed by DH guru JK (John Kirkcaldie). The multi NZ DH and twice USA DH champ now resides in Taupo and is stoked to be part of bringing his favourite sport to his favourite town. The course will be slightly easier than a national level DH, but will still have some features to challenge riders and entertain the spectators. The course has been rough cut and includes some native bush (with roots), pine tree section (with a steep drop onto a road), berms, jumps, pungas, switchback, fence jumps, roots and farm gulley/wall rides.

The Cross Country (XC) course will be constructed by the Epic Events course team (best known for the NZO Whirinaki Quest MTB tracks and over 500 km of the best motorcycle tracks in NZ). There will be fun, flow, views and yes, the odd uphill! The XC takes riders around the base of Mount Tauhara which is a once per year opportunity on private land. Over 70% of the XC is in a pine forest with flowing forest trails and single track. Course options include 20km and 35km for riders wanting a more serious workout.

A key feature of both tracks is Taupo's world famous pumice soil that provides excellent and predictable traction even if wet. Epic Events already holds one event on the mountain - The Brooks Off Road half marathon which is held in July 09 which attracted over 450 runners in year one. Many of the runners finished the race and started talking about how good it would
be to bike around the Mountain.

Both events are run separately, but an overall champion male and female will be crowned from the riders who are multi-skilled enough to take on both. Cross Country riders will have to be quick enough to race the XC then get back in time to the base to qualify for the DH.

22 May will peak at around 3pm for DH finals. By this time all DH hopefuls will have been stripped down to the top 16 and all the XC riders will be back from their mission around the mountain, ready to check out the thrill of the downhill.

DH and XC are fairly different codes and riders in NZ tend to occupy either camp, but we are sure there are some fit DH racers capable of a top finish in the XC and some brave XC riders willing to take on the DH. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in each discipline and overall.

More info at http://www.epicevents.co.nz the epic events website

Sounds right up my alley!
But alas, all good things come about when I leave the bloody country. *Sigh*

so Is the downhill track built yet? it's good there's finally going to be a proper downhill track in taupo

The tracks are on private land, so I'm not sure what the access arrangements would be. I'm thinking that it would be a fun event to head up to Taupo for though...

What will the format be for the DH?

I'm guessing something like this:

get to the top of the hill.
Leave at constant intervals
pass the finish line in (hopefully) 1 piece.

22 May will peak at around 3pm for DH finals. By this time all DH hopefuls will have been stripped down to the top 16

This was the comment that made me ask.

Crucial wrote:

22 May will peak at around 3pm for DH finals. By this time all DH hopefuls will have been stripped down to the top 16

This was the comment that made me ask.

I too am wondering about the format for this race. I'm equally rubbish at dh and xc and would be keen to enter both, but wondering how quickly I would need to finish the xc in order to get in a practice run or 2 of the dh course. I've looked at the website and some info there but no detailed timetable. There doesn't seem to be any email contact listed on their site. Anyone connected with this event cruising this forum and able to flesh out any details? As an "all mountain" stylez rider, this type of event sounds like a good idea.

Only shame is this track being designed and built will not be available for the public to ride outside of the event so taupo will still be without a proper DH track

Benji-08 wrote:Only shame is this track being designed and built will not be available for the public to ride outside of the event so taupo will still be without a proper DH track

Why not rather than cry about the lack of facilities, why not work with the Taupo club to get a DH built??

or less than an hour away you've got the DH runs in Rotorua with the southstar shuttle service

I just happen to be building my own private track so by saying Taupo public i mean the Taupo Public...

Besides Taupo MTB club is rather focused on the construction of multiple use tracks so tend to stay clear of DH on the limited land available to them

Benji-08 wrote:I just happen to be building my own private track so by saying Taupo public i mean the Taupo Public...

Besides Taupo MTB club is rather focused on the construction of multiple use tracks so tend to stay clear of DH on the limited land available to them

Sounds a bit like whats happening here in Palmy. All XC no DH. We tried to get something working
but they pretty much told us to organise it ourselves and they didn't wana help (that's why im not a member anymore ). Since when have you heard of a 15yr old race organiser??

GloryDH0 wrote:

Benji-08 wrote:I just happen to be building my own private track so by saying Taupo public i mean the Taupo Public...

Besides Taupo MTB club is rather focused on the construction of multiple use tracks so tend to stay clear of DH on the limited land available to them

Sounds a bit like whats happening here in Palmy. All XC no DH. We tried to get something working
but they pretty much told us to organise it ourselves and they didn't wana help (that's why im not a member anymore ). Since when have you heard of a 15yr old race organiser??

15yr olds often have families (parents?) who can often help out with sports

Already tried that one. Fail!

BikeKiller wrote:

Crucial wrote:

22 May will peak at around 3pm for DH finals. By this time all DH hopefuls will have been stripped down to the top 16

This was the comment that made me ask.

I too am wondering about the format for this race. I'm equally rubbish at dh and xc and would be keen to enter both, but wondering how quickly I would need to finish the xc in order to get in a practice run or 2 of the dh course. I've looked at the website and some info there but no detailed timetable. There doesn't seem to be any email contact listed on their site. Anyone connected with this event cruising this forum and able to flesh out any details? As an "all mountain" stylez rider, this type of event sounds like a good idea.

I will hopefully be able to answer this after tomorrow, but from what I've heard the DH format will be shuttles all day with your fastest time counting (no race runs) then the fastest 16 probably get taken back up for a final race run? Like I said before should have something more concrete about after tomorrow.