Top mountain bikers to race at Rotorua Bike Festival in February
27 December 2012
New Zealand's top downhill mountain bikers will race at the Rotorua Bike Festival in February.
While most of them will be competing at the 2013 Mountain Bike National Championships, Justin Leov will be taking on a new and exciting challenge.
For the talented 28 year old it's part of a move from downhill to a new form of the sport that has captured the imagination of the mountain biking world. Enduro is increasingly popular and the first World Series was announced late in November.
I'm really looking forward to racing a fresh new discipline, especially with Trek World Racing, says Leov. It really is the ideal situation. The team feels like family and I know them so well. It's the exact support I'll need to compete at the highest level in Enduro.
The Rotorua Bike Festival, organised by Rotorua District Council's Events & Venues unit, is supported by the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust and will run from February 8-17.
It kicks into gear with Rotorua's longest running mountain bike event, the Cateye Moonride on Friday February 8, and will wrap up with the Gravity Enduro on the final day.
The Gravity Enduro will start in downtown Rotorua with riders cruising out to the Whakarewarewa Forest to take on the timed multi stage race.
It's a form of mountain biking that combines the strength and endurance of cross-country and the technical skills of downhill racing, says Gravity Enduro organizer, Neil Gellatly. It's great to have such a skilled and experienced international star like Justin on the start line for his 2013 debut in Enduro racing.
Another top Kiwi international rider who'll be racing the Gravity Enduro is Rosara Joseph. The Beijing Olympian and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games silver medalist in cross-country mountain biking is also excited to be racing a new discipline.
The Enduro format mentally and physically challenging - and a whole lot of fun, says Joseph.
The Rotorua Bike Festival event has something for everyone with a full schedule of events from from the serious to the light-hearted: the MoreFM Bike Expo, the Redwoods Coast (no pedals, just momentum), fun road and mountain bike rides, Let's Ride skills clinics, Victoria Grove Pimp my Bike, street criterium, Bike Polo, the BMX Qualifiers for the National Championships (an event made more significant with the UCI World Championships in Auckland later in 2013), Bike Speedway and Frocks on Bike.
The website www.rotoruabikefestival.com has a full run down of events.