Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
Another crazy week of soaring temperatures in and out of the water around Dunedin with Niwa observing a marine heatwave off the east coast Australia that is pushing temperatures almost 2°C warmer than normal around New Zealand with the West Coast the standout at more than 6°C warmer.
That didn't help me this week as I got the chance to test out Jaguar's range in their Art of Performance tour – yep, I got to drive a full-featured 400hp F-Type Jaguar worth a cool $170,000. Oddly, they let me drive it at full-speed directly toward a concrete building before allowing me to slam on the brakes and experience the g-forces of a street-legal race car. Exhilirating. The slalom course was a wheel-squealing bonus. Now to save up ...
The start of December is always a fun one for me as the Emerson's 3 Peaks Enduro takes over the skyline trails of Dunedin for one of the world's great mountain bike races. This was the first time in six editions, that the weather has been perfect. But it was super hot and you have to spare a thought for the riders: Day 1 is 26.1km long with 1891m of climbing as they race the Pepper Tree Track, Nicols Creek, Mt Cargill and Bethunes Gully. Then they do it all again on Signal Hill on Sunday with 14.3km and 910m of ascent. With the temps touching 29°C all I can say is, ouch.
Scotland's Katy Winton emerged victorious in the women's after a huge battle with Kiwi Rae Morrison throughout the weekend. They're both Enduro World Series (EWS) regulars with Katy world number 3 and Rae world number 10, but not far off their pace was rising Dunedin star Shannon Hope. She's still a junior rider, but held third place comfortably all weekend in the overall women's. Her race came unstuck 50m from the finishline on the final stage when she stepped off her line and wrapped her back around a tree at pace. Luckily she was discharged from hospital without any broken bones late on Sunday night.
In the men's it was all about Rotorua's Keegan Wright and Colorado's Jubal Davis doing their best to stop Christchurch rider Joseph Nation from winning his third consecutive Emerson's 3 Peaks Enduro title. And they did with Keegan finding 13 seconds over the two days to win the title. Jubal finished third, just five seconds behind Joe.
One rider who stumbled across the event was 25-year-old Antoine Bizet from Paris, France.
The six-time Rampage rider (world's most extreme freeriding event) was in town chasing surf.
“I bought a surfboard here five days ago and so it coincided with the race," he laughs in his thick French accent. "So yesterday I had some good riding and I surfed. Today I only rode and now the raced is done and I am going to grab my van with my board and go surfing.”
Antoine has finished second twice at Rampage, once with a history making double backflip and a frontflip in what can only be described as a terrifying canyon course. Check it out here.
“I have been loving the sunshine and riding with no shirt in the sun – it is snowing at home in Paris right now. So this is like paradise here for me.”
Antoine is based in Queenstown to train over summer and was good friends with the late Kelly McGarry, a Kiwi rider who charmed and inspired the mountain bike world.
“Kelly was such an inspiration and had such an awesome vibe. Every time I speak about him I remember the times we shared and every time I remember how nuts this dude was and how rad he was," offers Antoine with a lump in his throat. "He is an inspiration for everyday life.”
You can't help but think that a little bit of that McGazza effervescence was flooding the 2017 Emerson's 3 Peaks Enduro with sunshine and good vibes.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Found a JS Monster surfboard at St Kilda recently? The owner wants it back.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: