Visiting New Zealand to ride is on most mountain bikers’ bucket lists. We are very excited to announce that in January the Kona Endurance team will be ticking it off theirs as Spencer Paxson, Barry Wicks, Kris Sneddon and Cory Wallace head to New Zealand at the end of January to race in the inaugural Pioneer Stage race. Over a gruelling seven days the two teams will race from Christchurch to Queenstown, covering some of the most awe inspiring and scenic parts of the New Zealand’s South Island, not to mention 546km of trails and over 15057m of climbing!
Between them, four Kona team riders have racked up some pretty amazing podium finishes and will undoubtedly be strong contenders. Cory Wallace, two time Canadian Marathon National Champ, has an incredibly long list of victories including an unprecedented three Mongolia Bike Challenge wins. He swept the Australian Marathon Series in 2014, as well as the Tour of Timor and the Wombat 100. On home soil he has placed 3rd and 4th in the technical and demanding BC Bike Race.
Cory’s teammate Spencer Paxson also is a force to be reckoned with and while his results sheet doesn’t boast as many multi-day stage results as Cory’s, it does show that this young American has what it takes, placing second in the BC Bike race in both 2014 and 2015. 2015 also marked his first full-time year on the World Cup Cross Country circuit where he was consistently one of the top placing American riders, he’s been on the US World Champs XC team many times and is a member of the US Olympic Long Team for Cross Country. He capped off the 2015 season at the World Championships by passing more than half of the field to finish as the 40th fastest XC rider in the world and 2nd American.
The second Kona pair is again a mix of Canadian and US riders with California local and Kona stalwart Barry Wicks leading the charge. 2015 saw perennial Kona racer Wicks tackling some new adventures. Attending the inaugural Trans-Cascadia Enduro, a 4 day stage race featuring blind racing through the back-country near Oakridge, Oregon, was a true highlight. Barry was on the podium with stage wins at BCBR, Breck Epic and was 4th at the Downieville XC. After winning the inaugural Giro Grinduro, Barry’s ready to race back on New Zealand soil to kick start his 2016 season.
Rounding out the Kona contingent descending on the Pioneer, is British Columbian native Kris Sneddon. In Kris’ own mind, he found this season a bit trying results-wise, but that’s only because he is his own toughest critic. He did win the 3 day portion of the the Singletrack 6 event in BC and finish 5th in the 2015 edition of the BC Bike Race (he won the solo event in 2014). Like Barry and Cory, he also has plenty of big days in the saddle under his belt, finishing second behind teammate Cory Wallace in the 2012 Mongolia bike Challenge and 2nd in the 2013 Canadian Marathon Championships.
