International mountain bike professional Kashi Leuchs, of Dunedin, won the 2009
Motatapu Icebreaker, beating his Team RoadCraft teammate Marcus Roy, of Invercargill, to
the finish at Arrowtown after 50km of fast-paced racing on Saturday (March 14, 2009)
There were many factors that heightened the intensity of this showdown between
these two friends, teammates and determined competitors. Local media had jumped on
the match-up and press everywhere was putting the two head-to-head. On top of that
the two had recently spent four days riding no further than 20m from each other on the
Alpine Epic adventure race. By the end of that event they knew each other’s every move.
Adding to the colour, the Motatapu Icebreaker is Roy’s event – he has won the event on
the previous four occasions. For Leuchs, this would be his first attempt.
Neither rider expected the race’s start to be dictated by another rider altogether.
“Tony Hogg put the hammer down from the start and we had a young Dunedin rider,
Jeff Notman with us as well. He was the only other one to hang in there with us, but Tony
was just hammering off the front and Jeff and I fell off the pace around the same time. I
was struggling to breathe,” Leuchs said.
“At that point I thought Tony had it in the bag – he was riding so strong. I just decided
to ride my own pace and focused on my breathing and brought my whole system to a
calmer state.”
Leuchs’ calmer state also saw him improve his position and as he hit a short, steep
climb he passed Hogg.
“At that point I felt I was in control of the race,” Leuchs said.
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For course record-holder (1:57.47) Roy the start pace threw an unexpected surprise.
“I was really working just to hold on to Tony. I remember thinking, ‘this is going to be a
long day’,” Roy said.
“I tried to hang on to him, but in hindsight I should have just raced my own race.”
Roy regained composure and caught Tony, he then set off after Leuchs.
“I could see Kashi ahead of me, in the saddle, out of the saddle, in the saddle, out of the
saddle, just keeping the pressure on the whole time,” Roy said.
“Kashi was slowly edging out – I could see that he was continually edging further away.
At about that point, 5km from the start of the descent, I realised that I wasn’t going to get
back in touch with him.”
With Roy settled into second his thoughts turned to his record, which he had set in
2008.
“It wasn’t until the river crossings that I looked at my watch and saw that there was still
20 minutes to go to the 2-hour mark and I started to get a little worried that he might
knock my record off,” Roy said.
Leuchs wasn’t wearing a watch, but had the record in his mind.
“I knew I had the race in the bag and I thought about the record so kept gunning it, but
I think it must have been a quick time he set last year,” Leuchs said.
Leuchs crossed the finishline in 1:58.42, almost a minute over the course record. Roy
finished on 2:00.12.
“I knew it would be tough to beat Marcus – it was good to have a rider of his calibre in
this race to compete with – it keeps me on my toes. The fact that he’s also my teammate
makes it even more fun. We get on great and for us to finish off the season in this big
head-to-head battle is a great way to conclude what has been a very fun off-season for
me,” Leuchs said.
“I’m glad I was able to take Kashi under my wing and help him with his training in his
off-season,” Roy joked.
The Motatapu Icebreaker concludes the 2009 tour for Team RoadCraft.
Both riders expressed their gratitude to the other riders, the people they’ve met
through the season and those who have supported them during this tour.
Leuchs heads back to Europe, via the Cape Epic in South Africa, to begin his season of
international racing. Roy will base himself out of Invercargill to continue studying and to
meet his work commitments.
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