7hrs of 7mile – Queenstown, NZ

7-Mile is a legendary mountain biking area near Queenstown, New Zealand. So legendary that I rated it as “The Best Mountain Biking in NZ” when I authored Lonely Planet – Cycling New Zealand last year. This purpose built series of trails are pristine singletrack designed for mountain bikers, by mountain bikers. Yesterday an annual endurance event called the 7hrs of 7-mile was held. As an individual or a team you race to complete the most laps you can during the 7hrs of racing. As a special treat the organizers (The Queenstown Mountain Bike Club) tends to use the event to debut new trails and today was no different. The 5.3km course climbed through the forest and descended through the trees at breakneck speed. The top riders were churning out 20minute laps – for seven hours straight. Several teams entered and a few brave souls on singlespeeds too. The winner at the end of the day was Queenstown’s Mark Williams followed closely by another QT local, Jim Hawkridge – both riders clocked up 16 laps or 85 km’s with 3,400m vertical climbing with Willy beating Jim to the line by 8 minutes.

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Scott Kennedy is a Freelance Writer, Photographer and Filmmaker – he is also the Editor of Arc Magazine

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