Our big news for the week is that Kashi Leuchs will be racing the Alpine Epic. Hailing from Dunedin, Kashi has been New Zealand's top XC mountain biker for the past 9 years and has represented New Zealand at the last 3 Olympics. Kashi has recently signed with the Felt Racing Team after a successful 3 years with top European team Cannondale/Vdredstein. His time there included winning a round of the XC Marathon World Cup, and being consistently ranked in the top 10 riders in the world.

We are stoked to have Kashi back in New Zealand, and riding the Alpine Epic. If you are keen for four days riding in the New Zealand backcountry with one of the world's best, this is your chance.

When entries opened a week and a half ago we were not sure exactly what was going to happen. So when we had 15 teams signed up after 15 minutes we were pretty happy.

Quickest off the mark was Team C.A.F. - Denise Thorn and Georgie McClean from Alexandra. Good stuff guys, we will be sending you on a hot air balloon flight over Lake Wakatipu with Sunrise Balloons, www.ballooningnz.com. The prize includes a champagne breakfast and is worth $750! Congratulations and enjoy. 

The other prize winners were drawn using the random function on excel, the lucky teams are:

• Vicky Robertson and Jo Forbes, who are going to receive some vouchers from R&R Sport worth $200, www.rrsport.co.nz;
• Geof Blance and Malcolm McCleod, who win a tandem parasailing flight, 600ft above Lake Wakatipu with www.paraflights.co.nz; and
• James Weaver and Christopher Hill, who each get a free hour of personalised coaching with www.mtbskills.com.

Thanks to our sponsors for the prizes. We hope you enjoy them and spread the word about how cool they are. If you have not entered, get in fast and you could be racing through these hills this summer...