Cycling: Matthew Wilson wins cycle challenge

Overcast skies greeted riders for this years edition of the longest running cycling handicap race in New Zealand. A north westerly breeze was also present.

F grade were first out of the blocks at 8am with a group of four riders.

E grade started 8.29m with a group of six riders.

D grade started at 8.46am with a group of five riders after two late withdrawls.

C grade started at 8.58am with a bigger group tipped to go well of eleven.

B grade containing a couple strong local hopes were off at 9.17am with a group of sixteen including Paul Gow who had made the trip up from Timaru for the race.

A few people were tipping this grade to get through and take the race out.

A grade/scratch started at 9.28am with five riders after a withdrawl but containing some serious horsepower.

The wind came into the equation once the riders were past Okato with it blowing them down the coast at pace.

All the grades hit Opunake well ahead of their estimated times. However the wind was coming across the shoulder on the Eltham Road with some groups splintering.

C Grade had already lost a few members and B Grade had a split dropping five riders who found the going a bit tough.

A the turn at Awatuna heading up the appropriately named hurt locker segment the speeds certainly dropped. However up front F grade continued to look a chance.

A Grade had taken a substantial chunk out of B Grades handicap – although they had dropped a rider leaving them with four riders. Matthew Wilson and Glenn Haden certainly showing their strength. C Grade had made it past D grade and were on the chase.

B Grade were caught by A Grade before the Monmouth Road turn onto Mountain Road.

A number of B Grade riders managed to latch onto the A Grade train as they ploughed into wind which when heading north was more of a head wind.

After a couple of attacks Jack Drage (pictured) and Matthew Wilson managed to separate themselves from the pack. These two went through C Grade and past E Grade as well.

F Grade still had a gap but they were down to two members and that got eclipsed smartly before they were able to hit Dudley Road.

Matthew Wilson was able to put a gap into Jack Drage and rode solo to the finish.

An incredible time of 2h49m45s putting approximately 10 minutes into the 2025 course record of Glenn Haden.

A couple of hardy C Graders were able to mix it with the A/B Grade bunch leaving 11 riders to settle the remaining placings and fastest time prizes.

At 2km an attack went creating enough small gaps on the uphill grind. David Goodall, Jesse Hofmans and Garry Mikkelsen were tight together with an advantage over the chasers.

A fantastic head-to-head sprint between Goodall and the 16-year-old Hofmans saw Goodall edge Hofmans for bragging rights as first Taranaki finisher and fastest Taranaki Rider.

Jesse Hofmans was however the fastest U19 rider. Gary Mikkelsen finished fifth and first veteran over 50 rider.

Glenn Haden – sixth and third fastest time. Edward DaBinett – seventh. Jakob Lester (New Plymouth) 8th. Blair Christian – nineth. Rylan van der Loo – tenth.

The first woman to finish was Esther van der Harg (New Plymouth).

Fastest woman was Hannah Goodall (New Plymouth).

It was a good day for the Goodall household with husband David finishing third.