The 1988 KARAPOTI CLASSIC Mountainbike Race 27th February 1988 Place Name Time 1st Simon Kennett 2 hours 54 mins 30 secs 2 Paul Kennett 3:04:21 3 Paul Gaastra 3:07:18 4 Greg Kidd 3:10:18 5 Philip Bainbridge 3:11:58 6 Ewan Fisk 3:19:05 7 Don Johnston 3:24:22 8 Terry Macpherson 3:25:34 9 Andrew Thompson 3:26:14 10 Roger Hoebers 3:26:16 11 Jonathan Kennett 3:28:40 12 Colin Rickerby 3:31:28 13 Dave Mitchell 3:33:46 14 David Benson 3:35:16 15 Graeme Young 3:39:24 16 Stephan Coppard 3:40:44 17 Gregory Napp 3:42:47 18 Nathan Dahlbers 3:48:41 19 Bill Bristow 3:48:48 20 Andrew Walker 3:50:07 21 Tom Ehlem 3:51:07 22 Roy Baker 3:52:39 1st Woman Alison Mitchell 3:54:07 24 Jeff Sutherland 3:56:11 25 Frank Cookson 3:56:57 26 Marius Snep 4:00:55 27 Aaron Dalton 4:03:49 28 Dean Rainbow 4:06:56 29 Tony Reynolds 4:07:48 30 Michael Thorsen 4:10:30 31 Erik Westra 4:10:49 32 Dean Walker 4:11:38 33 K. Hoy 4:14:24 2nd Woman Anne Butler 4:15:46 3rd Woman Kathy Andras 4:19:10 36 Peter Robinson 4:33:52 37 Gary Turner 4:35:33 38 Richard Niven 4:36:23 39 Philip Carnoby 4:40:11 40 Brent Hoy 4:42:55 41 Rob McGrudden 4:45:00 42 Alastair Smith 4:59:39 4th Woman Donna Royal 5:13:10 5th Woman Sheila Girvan 5:21:03 45 Steve Goggin 5:31:06 6th Woman Karen Goggin 5:31:07 7th Woman Donna Wynd 5:33:22 8th Woman Melissa Salive 5:56:42 The 1988 Karapoti Classic Mountainbike Race was sponsored by Living Simply. [Below is a report for the Wellington Cycling & Touring Club's newsletter.] The Karapoti Classic was a race I organized with Living Simply. It started and finished at Karapoti Park in the Akatarawas. The course followed Karapoti Gorge to the road-end clearing, turned north towards Cloustonville, then on past Deadwood. After a sharp left turn, down a very rough 'track', it went up the Devil's Staircase. From that carry-the-bike hillclimb came the smooth and fast downhill to "John's Corner", then more downhill to the base of Dopers Creek hill. On the other side of which connects with Karapoti Gorge which leads back to the start/finish line. As this was a pretty 'gung ho' course, there was also a fun ride of 16km up and back Karapoti Gorge. Forty eight people jumped into the Karapoti River at 10am and by 4pm all forty eight had returned with no major injuries, just a few scratches and grazes. Dean Rainbow had to 'true' his rear wheel which had 'folded' - good thing he's a bike mechanic. Sheila managed to crack the shell of her Bell helmet by walking into a tree! Simon took only 2 hours 55 minutes to cover the 55+ kilometers. Alison Mitchell from Christchurch finished in 3 hours 54 minutes. WCTC members made a good impression on the placings list, as you can see below. John West, and other club members filled vital jobs as marshals around the course, thank you very much. Paul Kennett.