New Zealand’s Oli Clark and Kate Hastings claimed the elite downhill wins at the opening round of the Oceania Mountain Bike Continental Series in Methven, New Zealand on Sunday 18 January 2026.

Downhill Rankings after Round 1

In the elite men’s competition, it was Clark who was too strong with the 2025 junior third place overall finishing taking the win in 3mins 50.31secs, over a second clear of Joe Millington (New Zealand) with Zachariah Bradley-Hudson (Australia) rounding out the top three, three and a half seconds back.

“Race one was good, I had a wee tip over but had a really top section, the bottom was hard I was struggling all week well the last couple of days on it so it was a bit tough but looking forward to getting some more racing in,” said Clark.

Elite Men
1 Oli CLARK (NZL) 3:50.31
2 Joe MILLINGTON (NZL) 3:51.34
3 Zachariah BRADLEY-HUDSON (AUS) 3:54.07

Kate Hastings picked up where she left off in 2025. The New Zealander who won two rounds in the junior category a year ago, was in dominant form as she raced to the win in 5mins 16.87secs, over four seconds clear of Sacha Mills (Australia) in second with Bellah Birchall (New Zealand) a further nine seconds back.

“My run was good, had a few scary moments where I was like oh no but managed to sort it out. It was definitely a more relaxed run as my goal of the weekend was to just get time on the bike,” said Hastings.

“It was a good race to start off in Elite and hopefully I can keep the momentum and confidence up for the next ones.”

Elite Women
1 Kate HASTINGS (NZL) 5:16.87
2 Sacha MILLS (AUS) 5:21.58
3 Bellah BIRCHALL (NZL) 5:30.36

Cole Hulsebosch claimed the win in the junior men’s category as he stepped up to the junior category for time first time. He stopped the clock in 3mins 55.01secs, nearly a second and a half clear of countryman Kalani Henderson. Ryder Wilson (Canada) completed the podium a further second back.

Junior Men
1 Cole HULSEBOSCH (NZL) 3:55.01
2 Kalani HENDERSON (NZL) 3:56.47
3 Ryder WILSON (CAN) 3:57.44

In the junior women’s race Kiera Vlaar (New Zealand) sprung a surprise as she stepped up to the junior category to take the win in 5mins 4.37secs, narrowly edging 2025 series winner Indy Deavoll (New Zealand) by three tenths of a second. The final spot on the podium went to Ursula Summers who made it an all New Zealand top three.

Junior Women
1 Kiera VLAAR (NZL) 5:04.37
2 Indy DEAVOLL (NZL) 5:04.68
3 Ursula SUMMERS (NZL) 5:17.38