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.
For a competition that stayed quiet for months, the reaction arrived quickly once the replay dropped; part praise, part frustration.
A course and format that pushed progression
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.
“I really enjoyed watching a contest format that didn’t just eliminate any chance of placing high if you crashed,” one viewer wrote. “It allowed riders to push without fear.”
That showed in the results. Goomes took the women’s win with 87.0 points, even though she techinically crashed in her second run. But it didn’t hurt her score. It seems unlikely anyone would debate whether she deserved the win or not. Her run was stacked with tricks.
Nelson’s Kirsten Van Horne, 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. 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.
Hannah Bergemann took third place.
On the men’s 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.
Kamloops’ Hayden Zablotny was in top spot for the majority of round two, but got bumped down to fourth place in the end.
Delay draws mixed reaction
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.
“They also could have published results and got the videos out months ago,” one commenter said.
Others did not mind the polished product.
“That was great,” another wrote. “Wish I had something negative to say.”
And for some, the tone shifted entirely.
“I thought it was pretty fun watching a freeride comp that didn’t end with a few riders having permanent disabilities.”
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.
But it was pretty rad to see Casey Brown doing post-run interviews.
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.
A gamble that lands
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.
Women’s Results
1. Robin Goomes – 87.0
2. Kirstin Van Horne – 86.0
3. Hannah Bergemann – 83.6
4. Janelle Soukup – 80.3
5. Natasha Bradley – 79.3
6. Vinny Armstrong – 77.1
7. Vaea Verbeeck – 73.3
8. Chelsea Kimball – 69.1
Men’s Results
1. Kaidan Ingersoll – 89.8
2. Szymon Godziek – 88.0
3. Finley Kirchenmann – 86.5
4. Hayden Zablotny – 82.5
5. Tomas Lemoine – 82.3
6. Ondra Slez – 80.1
7. Louis Reboul – 78.0
8. Paul Couderc – 77.5
9. Billy Meaclem – 77.1
10. Nicholi Rogatkin – 75.5
11. Johny Salido – 73.8
12. Carson Storch – 65.6
13. Reed Boggs – 64.1
14. Thomas Genon – 63.0
15. Cam Zink – 35.6