Catherine Pattison

Capturing the New Zealand Supercross Championships MX2 crown has resulted in a mixture of pressure release and relief but also lingering pain for Scott Columb.

Ex-crusty Demon Luke Smith has a dual agenda in hosting his first South Island Big Air Boot Camp at Alexandra on February 10 and 11, after acknowledging "there's some real talent down south".

Queenstown's Scott Columb has proved himself to be the come-back king, winning both rounds of this month's New Zealand Supercross Championships' senior lites (250cc) class, a year after a debilitating knee injury.

As the world enters a more environmentally-aware era, sustainable building resources are back in vogue. Catherine Pattison talks to two Lake Hawea brothers, who realised long before it was fashionable that they really dug dirt and were so captivated by it as a construction material that they have both built houses out of this natural resource.

What would you do it you had unlimites funds and could wander the world at your leisure? Catherine Pattison lists her 10-top must-see motorsport events.

When former Silver Fern Jodi Brown runs out on to the netball court for the Southern Steel, she knows her husband, Markham, fully understands the physical commitment it takes for her to be at the top of her game.

How did a possum-trapping, deer-netting, Whanganui River-dwelling wild child evolve into an author with three books recently in the top 10 on the Booksellers NZ non-fiction best-sellers list and a television series sold to 79 territories worldwide?

Being hurled around the sky in a Pitts Special aerobatic plane would be the last thing many people would choose to do. However, ODT Wanaka reporter Catherine Pattison jumped at the chance to be frightened by Wanaka aerobatic pilot Ivan Krippner.

Wanaka multisporter and adventure racer Dougal Allan still blushes about when he first clapped eyes on his girlfriend Amy Nunn on the lakeshore.

For New Zealand's top rally driver, Hayden Paddon, 2012 involves changing cars from Subaru to Skoda and swapping his residential address in South Canterbury for Spain.

When you are only 9 years old and already have five years' motorbike racing under your belt, the results may well tell a story.

Hayden Paddon's rallying future may well hinge on a contact made at this year's Otago Rally.

The Southern Moto-X Series comes as close to Dunedin as the five-round championship gets this Sunday when it is hosted at Lee Stream by the Mosgiel District Motorcycle Club.

While patience, balance and taking extreme care on a motorbike might not be attributes typically associated with teenage boys, Brighton's Blake Fox (17) possesses each of these characteristics in abundance.

The Southern Moto-X Series is still going full throttle as it enters its 33rd year, lending the five-round championship - attracting peewees to senior pros - a rare longevity in this country.

Defending South Island Endurance Series drivers Allan Dippie (Dunedin) and Grant Aitken (Queenstown) were doing well for 2hr 55min of the first three-hour round at Teretonga Park last Saturday.