Blenkinsop wins third consecutive Dodzy Memorial Enduro

Three-time champion, former WHS student, Sam Blenkinsop in action during the Dodzy Memorial Enduro mountainbike race held at the Wairoa Gorge.
PHOTO: Mark Bridgwater 

It's an event that sold out quicker than it takes a rider to complete one stage.

But even with 280 mountainbike riders jumping in front of a computer to secure a prized ticket to the Dodzy Memorial Enduro before they were all snapped up in 90 seconds, when it came to race day no one was able to beat Sam Blenkinsop to the punch.

Christchurch-based Blenkinsop was crowned DME champion for the third consecutive year on Sunday, winning the three-stage event at the Wairoa Gorge in a combined time of 25min 35.04sec.

"I wasn't really expecting it this year," Blenkinsop said after the race.

"I was just doing the same thing as I do every year, which is just have fun. It's a good, chilled race where you race with your friends and have a good time. It's the one event where everyone in New Zealand tries to enter and although it's a race, everyone just having fun more than anything."

Coming off a strong Enduro World Series campaign in 2016, highlighted by finishing third in Argentina in round two, the 28-year-old Norco Factory Racing rider continues to show he's got something to offer the longer, multi-stage discipline after spending the majority of his career in downhill.

However, he said his 2017 targets have all been set towards downhill, hoping to consistently break into the top five on the UCI World Cup and Crankworx circuits.

"We've got a new bike coming and I just feel like the last few years I've struggled in the downhill and I just want to concentrate on that and do the best I can and go from there," he said.

Keegan Wright, competing at the DME for the first time, was second in 25min 54.44sec, with Wyn Masters, who crashed on the final stage, third in 25min 56.84sec.

The elite women's section was won by Harriet Harper, last year's runner up.

Harper, who used to live in Nelson, was on form on Sunday, winning all three stages to post a combined time of 30min 35.59sec.

Second place was Anka Martin (32min 17.72sec) and third was Ronja Hill-Wright (32min 35.56sec).

The event is held in memory of James "Dodzy" Dodds who was tragically killed in a hunting accident in 2012.

By Phillip Rollo
Stuff  Sport 6/2/17