New Zealand wins big at WEMBO

Kim Hurst won the Elite women’s 24-hour Solo World Championships in Fort William, in Scotland, with Erin Greene over the weekend. Plenty of other New Zealanders did their country proud too, as Amanda Brooks won the 40-44 women’s category and Ryan Hunt took gold in Under-23 Men. Fellow Kiwi John White was second in 60 plus Men and James Maguire did it all in one gear to take 4th in the Singlespeed category.

But to cap off an already successful weekend for our eastern neighbour, the World Endurance Mountain Biking Organisation (WEMBO) announced that Rotorua would host the event in 2016.

Tim and Belinda Farmer, from Nduro Events, will run the championships. For them, it’s a dream come true. Tim doesn’t only organise events he also races in them. He competed in the 24 hour Solo Worlds when they were in Canberra in 2013.

“Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” he said, on hearing the good news. “Living in a mountain bike mecca like Rotorua, riding most days, organising events, including the pinnacle of endurance racing, the 24-hour Solo world champs, is amazing.”

“Endurance racing is the ultimate challenge, but the riders are like most mountain bikers – they love to travel and experience different environments and cultures,” added Farmer. “Rotorua has such a long tradition of big events, a world-class trail network only minutes from town and all the infrastructure of a major tourism destination. And hot pools.”

The event was held in Finale Ligure in Italy in 2012 and Mount Stromlo in Canberra, Australia in 2013. After Scotland it will be in the Northern Hemisphere in Weaverville, California, next year, before heading down under again in 2016.

“WEMBO was set up to provide a true world championships where the world’s riders would get to experience 24 hour racing across a range of countries with all the course and climate variations that entails,” said WEMBO founder, Russ Baker. “It’s all about providing a great experience for the riders.”

Baker is excited about New Zealand becoming the fifth member of the WEMBO ‘family’.

“I’m sure that every rider will be looking forward to Rotorua’s legendary Redwood trails,” he continued. “As well as being a fantastic mountain biking location, New Zealand also fits in well with WEMBO’s plan to have an alternating hemisphere schedule, following on from Weaverville in California in 2015.”

He’s looking forward to welcoming the world’s best solo 24 hour riders to Rotorua in 2016. “And I congratulate Tim Farmer and the team from Rotorua for all the work they have done to bring another World Championships to New Zealand.

“Elite riders from around the world will compete in the event. However, it is a world championship with a twist. Anyone prepared to take on the challenge can enter with nine different age groups and a singlespeed category.

The 24-hour Solo World Championships will be one of the headline events on the second weekend of the 2016 Rotorua Bike Festival. 

“A world-class endurance event like this will be a major addition to the programme,” said David Crowley, from the Charitable Trust that runs the Festival. “The National Mountain Bike Championships will be the main event of the opening weekend again and the 24-hour Solos will wrap the festival up a week later.”