“Just hold on.”
That’s what 13-year-old Lucy Jenkins Jablonski says she’ll be doing when she “sends it” downhill on her mountainbike at Wither Hills Farm Park later this week.
The teen from Christchurch is one of hundreds of young cyclists in Blenheim for the Skoda National School MTB Championships this week.
Mountainbiking was a family affair, as her father Olaf Jablonski was in Europe with Lucy’s older brother earlier this year to support him in the Mountain Bike World Cup.
After giving the Wither Hills tracks a go himself, Olaf Jablonski reckoned Marlborough had more polished tracks than Europe.
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Lucy Jenkins Jablonski, 13, says “just hold on” will be her strategy in her under-14 girls’ downhill race.
“It’s very well-organised, the preparation … the Marlborough Mountain Bike Club, they are pushing so hard and doing such good work,” Olaf Jablonski said.
“What they didn’t do (in Europe), the guys here do, it’s amazing … whereas in Europe (the tracks) were just not very well signposted.”
“The trails that they’ve put in here are fantastic, absolutely great. It’s got the right amount of flow, with technical rocky bits in between.”
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A cycling family from Geraldine, from left, Oscar Talbot, 16, Mark Talbot, and Wilbur Talbot, 14, test out the tracks at the Wither Hills Farm Park on Tuesday.
Wilbur Talbot, 14, and Oscar Talbot, 16, from Geraldine, said it was handy they could train together for the national champs.
Despite having “not a whole lot” of tracks to practice on back home, Wilbur was crowned the under-13 boys’ cross-country champion at the 2022 champs in Bluff, and Oscar came sixth in his race.
With his eyes on the prize in the under-14 category this time around, Wilbur said: “We’ll see how it goes.”
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Riders practice at the Wither Hills Farm Park ahead of the champs.
He thought this year’s cross-country course was a “pretty good track” after giving it a spin when he arrived in Blenheim on Monday.
“The track’s a little bit loose in places, so you want to make sure you’ve got the right tyre pressure, just make sure you do a lap a few times, so you know what’s coming.”
Dulcie Copeland, 15, from Tauranga, was a national championship veteran, having been “a few times before”, but this was her first time competing in Marlborough.
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Village Copeland, left, and 15-year-old Dulcie Copeland, travelled from Tauranga for this year’s champs.
“Cross-country is my main race, but I’m looking forward to trying out the Enduro tracks, because they sound pretty cool,” she said.
“And who doesn’t love going fast downhill?”
Copeland was entered in two out of the three events on offer in the competition for solo riders, starting off with her under-16 girls’ cross-country race on Wednesday, and finishing off in the Enduro race on Saturday.
“The downhill sounds really cool too, so I’m kind of regretting not doing it. It sounds like they built a really good track,” she said.
