Miss Downhill in NZ

The Austrian Pro Downhill racer, Helene Fruhwirth came to New Zealand for an off season and describes her trip…

I have travelled to New Zealand twice now to compete in the National Downhill Series, firstly during the 2005/06 summer and more recently the 2007/08 season. The racers are a great fun and an awesome way to see the fabulous country and meet riders alike. The Nationals begin in December and finishes in February. These races send you from one end of the country to the other. I decide to race in NZ because here in Austria where I come there is just nowhere to ride in winter time. Everything is covered with snow and it’s cold and wet. It’s great off season training.

Yes and so no wonder that I came back. It took 2 years because I had to finish my studies. But this time I knew many people, knew places where to go and more. But I was even more nervous to come back to NZ than I was at my first trip. I didn’t know if it could ever be better than two years ago!

Now I can say this trip was so different that I can’t compare it at all. It was great to see all my friends, who I took to my heart. It was also really good riding new tracks I hadn’t riding before (e.g. Dirt Park NZ).

The whole trip nearly fell through because I managed to twist my ankle in trampoline training (suspected of a broken Talus) and got a plaster 10 days before I was to fly out. It was nightmare I couldn’t believe it. I put all the eggs in the basket- cut the plaster 24 hrs before my flight and got a special brace with crutches for the plane. The flight was a nightmare to my foot as it got swollen and put me trough pain during the whole flight. When I arrived it was okay I just thought about riding to get over the pain. I hardly could walk the first to weeks but I could ride my brand new Morewood bike!

I raced all the national races, took it easy got good results and good feedback from my sponsors. I loved the atmosphere to race in NZ. Nobody cares about my time, my results, who I was or what I should be. I could just be 100% me. In Europe I have to ride with a little more pressure, in that I need to always be in the top 10. Of course I used NZ as my training ground to get ready and prepared for the World cup season but I also enjoyed other things like wakeboarding, mini motocross riding with Dan McMullan, fishing, Jet ski riding, cliff jumping, pump track riding, the barbeques!, partying with the my friends, dancing with Chris and so many other things. I was having to much fun to miss Austria.

The down hill tracks in Europe compared to NZ are so different. I would say we have less jumps and not so many crazy lines. It’s not really surprising to me that different riders appear in the top 10 of the world from one day to the other. I loved to see how motivated the kiwi riders are. I didn’t have days where I didn’t get a ride with someone somewhere…. So great!

Now its time to head back home to Austria for racing DH and 4X in the Northern Hemisphere. I plan to race our Nationals, World Cup races, World Champs, Crankworx in Canada, European Champs in Italy and more!

If somebody is keen to follow my race life check out my blog on www.miss-downhill.com

I wanna thank: Kai Crow, Dan McMullan, Dave and Gail Judson, Chris Vanderkolk, Hadley Boyce, Hamish Kay and his flat mates and of course all my sponsors.

Photo by James Allan