Lower Hutt’s Stuart Houltham handled the atrocious conditions best to claim his sixth national titles at the RaboPlus New Zealand Mountainbike Championships in Nelson today.

Houltham was ecstatic to take out the elite men’s crosscountry honours after pushing clear on the last of five gruelling laps in heavy mud and continual rain at the championships presented by Nature Valley.

His sixth win in 2hr 06min 31sec takes him to within one of Jon Hume’s record of seven national crosscountry titles.

Olympian Rosara Joseph (Christchurch), ninth in a brilliant ride at Beijing, returned from overseas to dominate the elite women’s race in impressive fashion.

The men’s race was a tight affair with a pack of four swapping the lead. New Zealand Cup winner Mike Northcott (Mangakino), runner-up last year, was forced out after two laps after problems with his contact lenses in the cold, wet and muddy conditions.

Rotorua’s Clinton Avery laid down the gauntlet when he grabbed the lead on the penultimate lap but the experience Houltham cleared out on the final lap.

He won by two and a half minutes from Christchurch’s Brendon Sharratt with Avery a further nine seconds back in third place.

Joseph, back from her base in England, will head to Wellington tomorrow to compete in the UCI women’s road race in the Capital.

She dominated from the start to clear out in the women’s race over four laps, winning in 2:01:07, more than 10 minutes ahead of Palmerston North’s Nic Leary with Dunedin’s Sara MacDonald third.

The under-23 titles went to Papamoa’s Ash Haugh and Auckland’s Katherine O’Neill.

It was a family affair in the under-19 grades with Dirk Peters (Rotorua) winning the boys’ race in 1:40:45 while his sister Alexa won the girls’ honours.

Christchurch 14-year-old Anton Cooper turned heads when he set the fastest average lap time of the day, followed by Dirk Peters and Houltham.

The championships conclude tomorrow with the downhill titles which will prove treacherous and spectacular in the current muddy conditions.

Results, Crosscountry:

Elite men, 5 laps:
Stuart Houltham (Lower Hutt) 2:06:31, 1;
Brendon Sharratt (Christchurch) 2:09:08, 2;
Clinton Avery (Rotorua) 2:09:17, 3.

Under-23 men, 5 laps:
Ash Haugh (Papamoa) 2:12:10, 1;
Carl Jones (Whakatane) 2:22:40, 2;
Jonathan Kalma (Nelson) 2:24:37, 3.

Under-19 men, 4 laps:
Dirk Peters (Rotorua) 1:40:45, 1;
Richard Anderson (Blenheim) 1:44:06, 2;
Patrick Avery (Rotorua) 1:45:06, 3.

Elite women, 4 laps:
Rosara Joseph (Christchurch) 2:10:07, 1;
Nic Leary (Palmerston North) 2:11:21, 2;
Sara MacDonald (Dunedin) 2:13:31, 3.

Under-23 women, 4 laps:
Katherine O’Neill (Auckland) 2:14:24, 1;
Samara Sheppard (Wellington) 2:18:02, 2;
Raewyn Morrison (Kapiti Coast) 2:26:27, 3.

Under-19 women, 3 laps:
Alex Peters (Rotorua) 1:51:02, 1;
Sasha Smith (Manukau) 1:52:08, 2;
Rachael Richards (Timaru) 2:04:38, 3.

good work Alistair Crossling, taking out senior men.. go wellington!

Good work lil Anton Cooper - go Cannerbrie !

It was definitely a tough day at the office for all riders out on the course yesterday. Things dried up quite a lot on Fiday after plenty of rain during the week and it wasn't raining first thing yesterday morning until around 9am. Then it settle in for most of the day with just a few clearish patches during the elite race. Tough day for spectators too! I was out taking photos during the morning race and got soaked through, not to mention covered in mud, but by the afternoon, with a change of clothes and lots of them I was freezing so hung out in the feedzone and watched the impressive action unfold from there.

An awesome championship day, some amazing racing and some very happy winners at the end of it all.

Lucky buggers... I would have given almost anything to have been out there!

I should have some pics up in the next few days (almost all from the morning).

Joel wrote:good work Alistair Crossling, taking out senior men.. go wellington!

sweet!

On another note, what's up with vorb?! Was Rosara racing on the road today in Wellington?! What event...

sifter wrote:

Joel wrote:good work Alistair Crossling, taking out senior men.. go wellington!

sweet!

On another note, what's up with vorb?! Was Rosara racing on the road today in Wellington?! What event...

was the womens world cup race on today? and Rosara racing? good effort if she was doubling up!

I have the lost property from xc on Sat. 0273106354

Rosara is a TANK! And a freaking LEGEND! She backed up her impressive and dominant ride at MTB Nats by making her way up from Nelson overnight to arrive in Masterton this morning to ride for Jazz Apples/Champion Systems in the UCI 1.1 Women's International Cup held today. She performed superbly for the Team even though we weren't able to to take the win (Ruth Corset finished 6th), with the victory going the way of the speedy young Aussie Chloe Hosking (Mercedes Benz). Great stuff.

Oli wrote:Rosara is a TANK! And a freaking LEGEND! She backed up her impressive and dominant ride at MTB Nats by making her way up from Nelson overnight to arrive in Masterton this morning to ride for Jazz Apples/Champion Systems in the UCI 1.1 Women's International Cup held today. She performed superbly for the Team even though we weren't able to to take the win (Ruth Corset finished 6th), with the victory going the way of the speedy young Aussie Chloe Hosking (Mercedes Benz). Great stuff.

that is awesome, great athlete!

Congrats to all participants - sounds like it all went fairly well apart from the weather.

Joel wrote:good work Alistair Crossling, taking out senior men.. go wellington!

Cheers!

That was so much fun, I'm now praying for rain at Karapoti (and my wish may well be granted looking at the forecast). Only problem was I was riding with only one eye for the last two laps as I couldn't get the mud out of my eyes (I always have problems with my eyes in crap weather so it's time to buy a crud catcher and clear lenses for my sunnies).

On a related note: The teams event doesn't really work, I think they should bring in a centre championship (which of course Wellington would win...). There will be a lot of Wellington proelite riders next year when Mono and I get the call up.

crossalis wrote:There will be a lot of Wellington proelite riders next year when Mono and I get the call up.

Assuming that Mono can manage to organize himself out of his wet paper bag and onto a race bike

crossalis wrote:
On a related note: The teams event doesn't really work, I think they should bring in a centre championship (which of course Wellington would win...). There will be a lot of Wellington proelite riders next year when Mono and I get the call up.

only there is no centers thats a roadie thing, and Rotorua would win hands down!!!!!

Thumbs up to the crowd that was cranking concord dawn half-way up the first climb. Kept me going!

Here's a bit of a slideshow of XC and DH. Maybe you can read your numbers.