Winni by name, winning by nature

Winni Goldsbury got her first bike when she was just six-months-old, meaning she could ride before she walked.
Goldsbury and her twin brother Boyd were given a pair of bikes by their grandfather, which had been handcrafted from old Kauri from his property. Both still ride, but its Winni who’s the competitive one, and this year she’s taken her mountain bike talents to Europe, achieving instant success.
The 17-year-old from Christchurch not only took out the U21 enduro category at the New Zealand national championships earlier this year, but also became the overall national champion as the fastest overall female for 2024.
Mountain biking (MTB) can mean different things to different people. For some, it’s a casual pedal down a dirt path and for others it’s flying down a mountain after the winter snow has melted. Enduro MTB started out in Europe with influence from rally car and motorbike enduro racing. Essentially, the concept is simple: get yourself up to the top of a mountain and then race to the bottom as fast as you can, over multiple, timed stages.
The Year 13 student at Cashmere High School headed to Europe in June to take part in the UCI MTB Enduro World Series. After a debut victory in Leogang, Austria, Goldsbury added a second win in two races in the U21 Enduro World Cup in Combloux, in south-east France. Despite injury ending her World Cup campaign prematurely, those two victories were enough to see her finish fifth overall.
“I’ve had quite a few injuries this year which hasn’t been ideal. I broke my hand just before going to Europe and then I broke my collarbone while I was over there,” she says.
“Everyone gets hurt at some stage. That’s okay. Everyone’s got matching scars.”
Goldsbury starting racing competitively aged 11. She won a race and loved that winning feeling. She not only has her grandfather to thank for getting her on her bike in the first place, but also her parents, Melanie Blomfield and Richard Goldsbury.
Richard was a cross country and downhill racer in the 90’s and 00’s and Melanie still races, dominating the 50+ category for the last five years and often beating most of the open women in local races.
Richard is still heavily involved in the sport, building many of the trails around Canterbury. Both have influenced Goldsbury because of their different riding styles, meaning she has learned to ride lots of types of terrain.
Goldsbury has recently jumped back on her bike having recovered from the broken collarbone. By her own admission, she isn’t back to 100 percent, but she is allowed to race.
With the 2024 European season over, the domestic season is starting and, as well as enduro, she’ll compete in the other disciplines, cross country and downhill, as her schedule allows.
November will see the launch of the New Zealand Enduro Series, featuring six high-level races across the country, showcasing diverse and challenging terrain.
The first event will be in Rotorua on November 23, the first of two North Island rounds. There will also be four rounds in the South Island, with the last in the Wairoa Gorge, just south of Nelson, on April 25-26 next year.
After that, Goldsbury plans to go overseas for a year, returning to the Enduro World Series. She’ll look to study remotely part-time at university for a year, before coming back to finish her degree on a full-time basis. She’d like to study environmental sciences as she likes spending time outdoors and would like to know how to preserve it better.
As for her medium-term future in mountain biking, she’s happy to be flexible.
“My plan is to race enduro for a while and then try and race downhill in the World Cups again, because I did one downhill World Cup race when I was in Europe and I really enjoyed it. I like racing downhill, I just don’t love it as much as enduro.” Goldsbury says.
Mountain biking has been part of the Olympic Games since Atlanta in 1996, with women’s and men’s cross country events. Although Goldsbury doesn’t anticipate enduro being added any time soon, she hopes downhill could be. Despite that, she hasn’t closed the door on an Olympic dream and she certainly has time on her side.
“I don’t really race cross country as I don’t like suffering that much but, honestly, if I had the fitness I would try and get into the Olympics. That’s something I can probably work on and I would like to race cross country as well so I can do all three disciplines in mountain biking.”