Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
After just over seven days, Eva Dethlefsen rolled into the southernmost point of New Zealand’s South Island, claiming the women’s title at the 2026 Tour Te Waipounamu. Find a written recap from Andrew Trevelyan with photos from Sami Sauri and Mark Watson here…
Words by Andrew Trevelyan, photos by Sami Sauri and Mark Watson
With great images, sometimes words aren’t necessary to convey what the most challenging bikepacking races ask of and mean to the podium athletes. When high-profile Spanish athlete Sami Sauri pulled out of Tour Te Waipounamu, the race team picked up another quality photographer. Here, Sami captured the women’s race finish.
Though tyre issues for Justinas Leveika robbed the men’s Tour Te Waipounamu race of a potentially exciting, grandstand finish, the women’s content went right down to the wire. Queenstown bikepacking novice, Eva Dethlefsen, prevailed in what turned into a riveting sleep deprivation race against Wellington equine vet Peg Leyland. Pace-setter Peg seemed to have the race in her reach until Friday night, when she took a long 8.5-hour break in the sleepy little Ida Valley settlement of Oturehua.
Eva, who had less than three hours’ rest in Wire Yard Hut, a basic timber-framed and corrugated-iron shack 1,500 meters up in the Hawkdun Range, stormed by before the pair exchanged the lead several times over the next 24 hours. Eva stopped for about 90 minutes just after crossing the Pomahaka River around 1 a.m. this morning, relinquishing the lead to Peg. But a slightly longer two-hour stop by the 50-year-old veteran 27 kilometres later enabled Eva to slip by and secure a 15-kilometre lead that she would defend to the finish. Eva cruised out onto the exposed Slope Point headland at 10:07 a.m. to claim a remarkable first-up victory. Peg followed less than an hour later.
Kim Hendrie of Christchurch is currently in third place after Brit Megan Young and Canadian Zoe Painter were both disqualified for camping on private land. Women’s race winner Eva has been very much in her element for the past week: “I just loved being in the mountains on my bike.”
Pre-race, the Conservation Department ranger noted that “Most of my life revolves around adventures in the outdoors. I like to move fast and efficiently through the mountains, and I can look after myself in the backcountry. ‘Normal people’ think the stuff I get up to for fun is crazy, and Tour Te Waipounamu seems like a place where a lot of crazy people gather!”
Not surprisingly, the former World Series enduro rider loved the Tour Te Waipounamu downhills, especially on her Canyon full-suspension bike, and she enjoyed sliding down the Dampier Range in the wet. Her strategy of treating the first five days like day rides paid dividends. In appalling weather at Lake Sumner on the second night, she detoured a couple of kilometres off course to the large Hurunui Hut to keep her bike and gear dry and get a good sleep.
“The early sleep really paid off. After that, I preferred to camp away from other people and only slept a few hours the last few nights.” Ultimately, the race was won with minimal sleep in the final 36-hour dash to the finish against Peg.”
Eva was naturally thrilled with her win, especially given her lack of prior multi-day bikepacking experience. She was the first woman home in Central Otago’s Reset Brevet last year, her only previous event, but doesn’t consider that bikepacking, having covered the course in 30 hours without sleep.
Further Reading
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