Mastery of hazards a winning way | Taranaki Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Taranaki

Inglewood trial bike riders, Wayne Thompson and Robert McEwen, battled difficult courses and competition to come out category winners in rounds 9 and 10 of the North Island Championships.

Wayne took out the expert category (for experienced riders) and Robert won the clubman category (for riders just starting out).

Each round of the champs had 10 hazards the riders had to master, with three degrees of difficulty.

Robert, who competed in all 10 of the rounds, performed well in every competition and ended up placing 2nd overall in the North Island Championships.

Wayne, thanks to his experience, only competed in four rounds of the champs, but still managed to take out 5th place.

Robert has been competing in the sport for the past four years and hopes next year to move up to the intermediate category.

His performance over the past season has proved he is ready to move onto more difficult courses and competition.

Wayne, who has been trial riding for over 12 years, has aspirations of competing overseas and hopes to represent New Zealand in the sport, which, over the past few years has become more and more prolific.

Having previously been invited to competitions in Australia, Wayne has set his sights on the Des-Nations competition, which is held in Europe.

To qualify for the New Zealand team, Wayne has to perform well at all of his competitions and a place in the country's top four in the expert category.

Both Wayne and Robert are members of the Taranaki trial bike riding club which currently has 10 members.

In training, the pair spend a lot of time tackling tough terrain on their specially-made, European bikes, which are seat-less to create a low centre of gravity.

They will now both concentrate on gearing themselves for up-coming competition.