Terenzo Bozzone just missed making the New Zealand Olympic triathlon team, but that didn’t stop him from proving his off-road worth by winning the 2008 XTERRA New Zealand Championships in Rotorua last weekend.

New Zealand’s own Tim Wilding, a 23-year-old legal graduate, pulled off the first big upset of the XTERRA Global Tour season by surprising reigning XTERRA USA Champion Seth Wealing at the New Zealand Championship in Rotorua. On the women’s side, another homegrown star – Gina Ferguson - won the race for the second year in a row.