<\/p>\n
Nearly three months after riders dropped into Mt. Dewar, Natural Selection Bike Aotearoa finally released its full broadcast, confirming Robin Goomes and Kaidan Ingersoll as winners of the Feb. 14 event. The mystery of who won is gone. The debate is not.<\/p>\n
For a competition that stayed quiet for months, the reaction arrived quickly once the replay dropped; part praise, part frustration.<\/p>\n
The riding itself left little to question. Natural ridgelines, open terrain and multiple line options gave riders room to build distinct runs. Two scored laps, each out of 50, meant creativity mattered as much as execution. It also changed how riders approached risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoyed watching a contest format that didn\u2019t just eliminate any chance of placing high if you crashed,\u201d one viewer wrote. \u201cIt allowed riders to push without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
That showed in the results. Goomes took the women\u2019s win with 87.0 points, even though she techinically crashed in her second run. But it didn\u2019t hurt her score. It seems unlikely anyone would debate whether she deserved the win or not. Her run was stacked with tricks.<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s Kirsten Van Horne<\/a>, had a great couple runs for second place. She avoided sheer disaster in run one when she nearly ate it off a suicide no-hander flat drop. Amazing save.\u00a0 She redeeemed herself on that trick on the second run. Her second icluded a nice tail tap over the rock that took her out in 2025. She ended with a tuck no hander ender.<\/p>\n Hannah Bergemann took third place.<\/p>\n On the men\u2019s side, Ingersoll beat defending champion Szymon Godziek with a winning score of 89.8. Godziek looked like he was about to have a perfect run, but crashed on a front flip barspin over the last jump. Thankfully he walked away without injury. Crowd favourite Finley Kirchenmann took third.<\/p>\n Kamloops\u2019 Hayden Zablotny was in top spot for the majority of round two, but got bumped down to fourth place in the end.<\/p>\n The biggest criticism had nothing to do with the riding. It was the wait. Some viewers questioned why results were held for months, especially in a sport that typically moves fast.<\/p>\n \u201cThey also could have published results and got the videos out months ago,\u201d one commenter said.<\/p>\n Others did not mind the polished product.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was great,\u201d another wrote. \u201cWish I had something negative to say.\u201d<\/p>\n And for some, the tone shifted entirely.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was pretty fun watching a freeride comp that didn\u2019t end with a few riders having permanent disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n The broadcast itself ran at just over three hours. The riding was fun to watch and the lack of wind delays was refreshing after some of the six-plus hour Ramage broadcasts. Did it need to be so long? Probably not. Some of the analysis with Cam McCaul and Ed Leigh could certainly be cut down. The necessary evil that is commercials were pretty annoying too.<\/p>\n But it was pretty rad to see Casey Brown doing post-run interviews.<\/p>\n The editing was good too. It was great to see full slow-motion replays of each run seconds after the run itself. And with so much time to edit the broadcast, they could have multiple angles of each trick when something special happened.<\/p>\n Natural Selection took a risk. Hold the results. Build the story. Release it as a finished piece. Now that it is out, the verdict is not unanimous, but it is clear; with nearly 100,00 views on their YouTube channel in less than 24 hours, people want to watch this stuff.<\/p>\n 1. Robin Goomes \u2013 87.0 1. Kaidan Ingersoll \u2013 89.8\n<\/blockquote>\n
Delay draws mixed reaction<\/h2>\n
A gamble that lands<\/h2>\n
Women\u2019s Results<\/h2>\n
2. Kirstin Van Horne \u2013 86.0
3. Hannah Bergemann \u2013 83.6
4. Janelle Soukup \u2013 80.3
5. Natasha Bradley \u2013 79.3
6. Vinny Armstrong \u2013 77.1
7. Vaea Verbeeck \u2013 73.3
8. Chelsea Kimball \u2013 69.1<\/p>\nMen\u2019s Results<\/h2>\n
2. Szymon Godziek \u2013 88.0
3. Finley Kirchenmann \u2013 86.5
4. Hayden Zablotny \u2013 82.5
5. Tomas Lemoine \u2013 82.3
6. Ondra Slez \u2013 80.1
7. Louis Reboul \u2013 78.0
8. Paul Couderc \u2013 77.5
9. Billy Meaclem \u2013 77.1
10. Nicholi Rogatkin \u2013 75.5
11. Johny Salido \u2013 73.8
12. Carson Storch \u2013 65.6
13. Reed Boggs \u2013 64.1
14. Thomas Genon \u2013 63.0
15. Cam Zink \u2013 35.6<\/p>\n