Pre-Nats Te Awanutu
March 18, 2026
Pre-Nats is an event held at the same track as Nationals the week prior, which allows riders to dial in the track under race conditions. It also doubles as the Mighty 11 qualifying meet, where riders are selected for the team to face Australia in June.
This year Pre-Nats were held at Te Awamutu BMX Club on March 15th, and Capital BMX was represented by seven riders out of the 247 competitors.
Aella Robinson represented the Club in 8-9 Girls coming in 4th. Aella had a strong run in the motos with two second places and two third place finishes.
Odin Wedde placed 5th in 9 Boys placing 5th with three seconds and a third in his motos; 3rd in the semi final and finishing fifth in the final.
Kiera Ocoboc placed fourth in her first moto, but unfortunately had a crash in her second moto, which resulted in her withdrawing from the rest of the event. Wishing Kiera a speedy recovery and fingers crossed, she can compete in the upcoming Nationals.
Otis Ropiha came first in 11 boys, beating Orlando Daniels from North Harbour and Fletcher Kahukuru from Kaitangata. Otis dominated the group with three first-place finishes and the fastest hill split.
Jack Kelly had a strong weekend with first place finishes in his motos and the second-fastest hill among his group. He was second in his semi-final to World #2 Jackson Ropati who was racing up an age-group, before school camp caught up with him and he DNS’d the final for 8th place overall.
Jamie Harkness’s Male 17-24 group was merged into Men Under-23 to give championship rider Theo Bould some competition. The group was dominated by Max Richardson from North Harbour and James Wallace from Hamilton. Although Theo turned it on in moto 5 of this points over class with comfortably the fastest lap (2 seconds clear of the field), leaving Jamie with event rank 5.