Mountain biking: Fluker gives men run for money

Kate Fluker
Kate Fluker
Olympic hopeful Kate Fluker scored a comfortable victory in Queenstown's Tour de Wakatipu on Saturday, only minutes behind the men's elite winner.

Fluker (27), of Queenstown, won the 45km female elite race in 1hr 32min 39sec.

She was more than 10min clear of Dunedin's Haley Van Leeuwen and Roxburgh's Kath Kelly.

Nelson's Tom Filmer (21) claimed the men's elite race in an impressive 1hr 28min 46sec, ahead of Alexandra's Shaun Portegys and Dunedin's Johnny Van Leeuwen, Haley's husband.

The Tour de Wakatipu runs through spectacular scenery. Photos by Callum Wood.
The Tour de Wakatipu runs through spectacular scenery. Photos by Callum Wood.
Fluker, who represented New Zealand at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, said: ''I was leading the men in the first half.''

''We were all in a group then I saw them chatting and thought `Here we go'.

''We got on to some flat where I didn't have enough gears to keep up with them and they started drafting together, looking behind and just dropped me.

''Anything to beat the girl!''More than 400 elite, sport and recreational riders, from juniors to veterans, participated in the seventh annual trail ride on Saturday.

One of the biggest mass participation cycling events in the South Island, the course winds from Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown to Chard Farm winery in Gibbston.

Nine time Coast to Coast winner Steve Gurney won the sport master male category, dressed as the Easter Bunny.

Filmer slept the night before the race in his car, after travelling down from Christchurch where he studies.

He said he only knew he had the race in the bag with 500m to go.

''I nearly got caught out by the scenery. I was too busy looking at it.''

Both Filmer and Fluker plan to travel to Europe soon for the northern hemisphere season, Filmer to compete in the French national division series and Fluker for seven weeks of the UCI World Cup cross country series as she attempts to earn New Zealand a place in Rio 2016.

 

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