LISTER
here could be a fresh name being etched
on the New Zealand Cross-country
Championships trophy this season. Half
a dozen riders took their turn at the front at
the opening round of the New Zealand Cross-
country Championships near Norsewood
on February 10, but it was Raglan’s Jason
Dickey who was in front when it mattered,
at the end of the three-hour senior race.
Dickey’s impressive win on steep farmland at
Flemington, near Norsewood, has potentially
set him up for a national title win, and perhaps
a hint of what’s to come.
It was possibly the closest and most fiercely-
fought cross-country race in years as first
Hamilton’s Caleb Richardson, making his senior
debut, took the lead right after the shotgun
blast signalled the start of the senior race at
about midday. But then Wairoa’s Reece Lister
26 KIWI RIDER
Dickey’s impressive
win on steep farmland
at Flemington, near
Norsewood, has
potentially set him up
for a national title win,
and perhaps a hint of
what’s to come
suddenly snatched it away from him just 200
metres later.
However, by the end of the first lap of what
would eventually become a race lasting eight
23-kilometre laps, it was Glen Murray’s Sam
Brown who was in the lead, with Lister bumped
back to second and Raglan’s Jason Dickey in
third, while Richardson had slipped back to
14th.
Meanwhile, Taupo’s defending national cross-
country champion Brad Groombridge had
to deal with the tragedy of finding himself
dead last when he crashed soon after the
start, but he was soon on the charge and up
to 17th by the end of lap one. After four laps,
Groombridge was up to seventh and still
charging, while Brown continued to battle with
Lister and Dickey.