Courtney Clapham was part of the best-placed women ’ s team
“ It was a long day and I was feeling pretty sore afterwards .” Groombridge snatched the lead for the Kawasaki duo on the eighth lap – about halfway through the race – and they steadily built on that to create what became a winning buffer , although the Scott siblings , reigning national cross-country champion James Scott in particular , did keep up the pressure on the Groombridge / Cooper effort . But , as Groombridge remarked after Sunday ’ s marathon race “ you really couldn ’ t find a better duo than Cody and me ” to tackle this event . Groombridge is a three-time former national cross-country champion ( winner in 2016 , 2017 and 2018 ) and he also twice won the national enduro crown ( in 2016 and 2018 ) and has multiple Acerbis Four-Hour crowns to his credit , most of them achieved while riding solo . Cooper is a multi-time national 125cc , MX2 ( 250cc ) and MX1 ( 450cc ) motocross champion , having just last month taken a Kawasaki KX250F to clinch the national MX2 title for
2023 . Cooper is also a record five-time former winner of the fabled Tarawera 100 crosscountry marathon near Kawerau . Also impressive on Sunday were the eventual winners of the three-rider “ mates ” team category – comprising event organiser Sean Clarke , Kevin Archer and Elliot ‘ Superman ’ Kent , all from Waikato – who finished 16th overall . Best of the all-female two-rider teams was Wainuiomata ’ s Jane Whitaker and Feilding ’ s Courtney Clapham , who completed nine laps between them and finished 88th overall . Napier ’ s Eden Schlierike was best of the ironwomen , her gutsy ride good enough for her to finish 18th among all the 35 individuals who rode solo , men and women , and she claimed 99th overall for the event . In addition to Maxima Racing Oils , the event was sponsored by Forbes & Davies , O ’ Neal apparel , Ogio , Arai helmets , Blur , Muc-Off , Metzeler , Maxi Grip , Husqvarna Motorcycles , Satco Logging Attachments , Forest Trail Events and Kiwi Rider magazine .
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