The third and final north island round of Mountain Bike Cup was held in Levin today. World Cup winner and world ranked #7 professional Sam Blenkinsop (Wanganui) won the Elite Mens Category, the first New Zealander

 ..to be at the top of the podium the Raboplus MTB Cups presented by Nature Valley series after Scottish raider Ben Cathro took out round 1 and 2.

In a welcome return to the podium for second place was James Dodds (Rotorua) with Edward Masters (Dunedin) also ending a long spell off the podium claiming third. Cathro who is thoroughly enjoying the summer of quality New Zealand racing had an unfortunate crash in the top section of the course after being top qualifier. Cathro really liked the course and said of the track ‘it was loose and the jumps were radical, I am looking forward to the South Island series'.

The Elite Women's category was headed by Harriet Harper (Blenheim) with little competition at round three as fellow racers were either injured or did not finish their run. North Island Downhill Cup leader Emmeline Ragot (France) who won round 1 and 2 was not at Levin as she was racing in Canberra this weekend.

Event Organiser Luke de Jager, who is also a Downhill racer and President of the Levin Mountain Bike Club was thrilled with the weekend of racing with perfect conditions in the Kohitere Forest. de Jager said ‘the riders were loving the track because it is super fast and there are lots of challenging jumps'.

The track which had several steep chutes with plenty of exposed roots also boasted several man made features such as step-ups , step-downs and gap jumps of up to 50 feet with bypass routes for the less daring. Derek Winwood (Nelson) who placed first in the highly competitive Mens 30+ category said ‘the track was amazing, I loved the jumps and stayed on my bike with a good run'.

Local rider Kurt Lancaster had a solid home track advantage as well as being one of the course builders and took out first place in the Senior Men Category while another local rider, Evan Thomas placed second.

This was the final race in the series of three for the North Island. NZ Cup Competitors now cross the Cook Strait for the NZCT South Island Cup with three downhill races in Dunedin, Queenstown and Blenheim as well as three Cross Country races in Dunedin, Queenstown and Timaru.

To finish off the summer racing series will be the highlight of the domestic competitive season - the New Zealand National Mountain Bike Championships being held in Nelson 26^th Feb to 1^st March.

Results - North Island Downhill Cup Round 3 - Levin

Elite Men

1 Sam Blenkinsop, Wanganui, 3:01.72, 2 James Dodds, Rotorua, 3:02.61; 3 Edward Masters, Dunedin, 3:06.23

 Elite Women

1 Harriet Harper, Blenheim, 3:06.23

Full Results - Click Here