Another race, and another lovely BikeNZ certificate for visiting French rider Emmeline Ragot in the Dunedin round of the NZ National DH Series 2009. The race was held on Dunedin’s Signal Hill in weather that threatened rain but held off… just. The course had a challenging mix of features: “It’s a real downhill track, there are a lot of different things – forests with roots, tight corners, berms, rock gardens, it’s very complex.’ said Emmeline. ‘It’s cool training on the rock gardens too, because there are rock gardens in the world cup tracks. I was very happy my race run was faster than seeding, because usually I have a faster seeding run than race run, like all the time at the world cup. So I am happy.’
Again, the Elite Women field was small, with Harriet Harper coming in second, followed by German rider Harriet Ruecknagel in third and Rita Langley in fourth. The open women field was lacking too with a lot of the North Island riders not making the trip down for this race. Madeline Taylor made the effort from her home in Napier, and took the win over Canadian rider Dominique Doyan, and Amanda Pearce of Nelson came third.
Elite Women
1 Emmeline Ragot
2 Harriet Harper
3 Harriet Ruecknagel
4 Rita Langley
Open Women
1 Madeline Taylor
2 Dominique Doyan
3 Amanda Pearce
For full results and times click here
Older: Australian DH and 4x National Champs
Fresher: Flow MTB and Minx Ditrtgirls weekend in Morzine
Published on 01/02/2009 by Martha Hucker.



