Mountain Biking: All downhill for Wright

Keegan Wright has a big plans for downhill racing next year and hopes to scoop the $10,000 2W Gravity Enduro prize.

Rotorua downhiller Keegan Wright has only been racing downhill for three years, but has already shown he's got a big future in the sport.

Wright, 19, stepped up into the men's elite division this year for downhill mountain bike racing, rubbing shoulders with many of the top downhillers in the world.

He was one of the standout Kiwi performers at Crankworx Rotorua in March, and followed that up with a top-10 placing during the main downhill event at Crankworx Whistler (Canada) in August. He ended up cutting his season short this year, missing most of the world cup events and the world championships, but has a big season planned for next year.

"I think I have what it takes in the elites, I just need a season or two learning how the big boys do it all," he said. "This coming year is going to be a big season for me, next year I'm going to do the whole season."

Wright, who is back home and training in Rotorua, started out as a BMX rider but made a switch to downhill in his later teenage years.

"I only started downhill racing about two and a half, maybe three years ago and before that I did BMX racing.

"But I decided to choose a different path as I was just getting over the whole BMX scene," he said. "I had a friend that gave me a bike [for downhill] and I was 16 turning 17. Last year I went and did the world champs and got ninth in the junior men's division."

Wright has been no stranger to broken bones over the years, from various crashes, but his biggest health issue came when he was young.

"I was born with talipes. My foot was twisted backwards and they had to break it and realign it. For the first three and a half years of my life I was in a cast."

Wright underwent a number of operations to help strengthen and straighten his right leg.

"You have to strengthen it up as much as you can and it has been good for the last couple of years," he said. "As soon as you stop growing that is when it is meant to be good."

Wright is currently working at River Rats to try and earn money for next season. He said he had a few main sponsors, including Wide Open and Giant, who helped with financial support and product, and he hoped to sign with an overseas downhill team in the future which would make funding a full season a lot easier.

Wright is also a top enduro rider, which mixes aspects of downhill racing and cross country racing. He won the opening 2W Gravity Enduro event of the season last month in Rotorua and will collect upwards of $10,000 in prize money if he can win the next two 2W Gravity Enduro events (in December and February).

"I was stoked to win that event last month because a lot of the top guys were there like Matt Walker and Carl Jones. And I guess I was a bit of an underdog," he said.

He said if he could manage to claim the $10,000 prize, for winning all three 2W Gravity Enduro events in Rotorua, it would help a lot towards next season's costs.