NZ Mountain Bike Champs: Coles set sights on titles

SPEED FREAK: Rotorua downhill rider Louis Hamilton is among the world-class field taking part at the New Zealand Mountain Bike Championships downhill event tomorrow. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER A-200813SP6

Cam and Amy Cole will attempt to become the first husband and wife pair to win New Zealand Mountain Bike Championship titles this weekend in Rotorua.

However, they would probably settle for strong performances in the downhill competition tomorrow after Cam (Christchurch), the former junior world champion, spent much of last year recovering from a serious crash.

New wife Amy Cole (nee Laird) won the downhill title in Rotorua last year while her partner bypassed the event as he prepped for a full season on the UCI World Cup circuit.

This ended in disaster when he suffered a compression fracture of his vertebra in Andorra and was airlifted from the course.

The pair are among a world-class list of riders for the national downhill championship to be held on the famed Taniwha National Downhill Track used for last year's event, following today's cross-country championships.

Cam, who moves to the Commencal Riding Addition pro team in Europe this year, is among the elite group of leading Kiwi professionals headed by world number five Sam Blenkinsop (Lapierre International).

Other top contenders include defending champion Brook MacDonald (Trek World Racing), who is fully fit after injury cut short his international season last year, and in-form George Brannigan (Trek World Racing) who won the opening round of the national mountain bike cup held recently.

The potential challengers include Kawerau's Matt Walker, Rotorua's Louis Hamilton and Alexandra's Matt Scoles in the elite men, with a bevy of talented young internationals also looking to show their hand in this top-notch field.

Amy Cole, very much a part-time rider these days, will still pose a serious threat in the women's competition, in which Queenstown's Alanna Columb will be the favourite after an outstanding effort to finish in the world's top 20 in her first full season on the UCI World Cup circuit in 2013.

Others to watch include recent mountain bike cup winner Meg Bichard, Sarah Atkin and Sophie Tyas.

There will be plenty of support for Cam Cole, 26, to prosper in his comeback race.

"It has been all go and all moving in the right direction. I am really positive about this year," he said. "I recovered remarkably quickly because I was so fit. I'm back on my bike and surprising myself how well I am going."

The New Zealand Mountain Bike Championships is the headline event of the opening weekend of Rotorua's annual 10-day bike festival, beginning with the cross-country racing today from 10am (elite race at 2pm).

Racing for the gravity riders tomorrow starts with timed seeding runs from 11am and racing from 1pm.