Photo Story: Matt Fairbrother Wins NZ MTB Rally Entirely Self-Supported

Let's start with the stats, like a sledgehammer in the face. Over six days, 27 stages, 12,357m of Descending and 165 km, Matt's winning time on-stage was 02:48:53. Put into perspective, that's not far off Richie Rude's total race time for his entire 2023 EDR season. Take our word for it, these were definitely not cruisy trails either, being mostly black or double-black diamond graded, and all of them raced blind.


But that was the easy part. Because, for reasons known only to Fairbrother and similarly deranged super-humans including Forest Gump, Rambo, and Buzz Lightyear, Matt took on The NZ MTB Rally in his signature, entirely unsupported style. Not only did this involve pedalling or hiking up all the ascents whilst all his competitors took 4x4 shuttles and heli-drops, it included huge overnight transitions through mountainous terrain. All this, whilst everyone else enjoyed a hot-cooked dinner, some R&R, a comfy bed, and a slap-up breakfast before a comfortable coach ride to the next day’s race location. As if that wasn’t enough, Matt carried his own kit & tools, ate only what he carried or could buy from local outlets, and slept in a bivy which he also carried around with him throughout the week.

All-in, Fairbrother clocked up a monstrous 582km (361 miles) and 17,382m (57,027 ft) of elevation in completing this herculean race-within-a-race.

Still not tough enough for you? We haven’t yet mentioned Matt’s 6-and-a-half-hour, 37 km overnight kayak transition in seriously tough sea conditions…when everyone else jumped on a sunrise catamaran transition across the Tasman Bay, whilst enjoying breakfast and fresh coffee served on-board.


In spite of all this, Matt somehow managed to muster enough energy, skill, concentration and endurance, to finish ahead of Kiwi Pinner Chris Allman, Pinkbike's Matt Beer (himself a former Canadian National DH Champion).




Rather obviously, this frankly ridiculous feat did not come easy, even for someone like Fairbrother who is already renowned for his insane self-supported transitions between EWS races. Perhaps the lowest ebb for both Matthew and our race medics who were monitoring his health throughout the week, was on Day 4. Matt, in typical style, was already waiting for our mountain marshal crew first thing in the morning at the top of Stage 1; having bivied out at the base of the mountain and hiked up in the early twilight hours. This, whilst everyone else flew in directly overhead by helicopter to within metres of the start gate.


Low on sleep and nutrition and severely fatigued from his relentless journey, Matt smashed out a 3rd place result on the stage, but then collapsed over the finish line with blood streaming from his nose, even momentarily losing consciousness. Medics were on-scene quickly and after taking on more fluids and food, Matt’s condition was assessed. For the record, even this emergency nutrition was self-provided my Matt himself, who consistently and steadfastly refused any form of outside assistance throughout the week. Whilst obviously a little concerned, the medical assessment was that Matt should be allowed to continue the race, but with close monitoring at the start and end of each further stage. Fortunately, Matthew managed to recover, and incredibly, even go on to win all 3 of the remaining stages of the day.



For Fairbrother, it wasn’t all suffering. There were certainly moments of joy, too. A particular highlight surely must have been at around midnight, in the middle of open ocean and at least 15km from the nearest shoreline in borderline weather conditions, Matthew was surprised by the sight of a large fin, appearing out of the water in front of him and only a few metres from his kayak. One can only imagine what he must have felt at that moment. But Matt’s momentary terror soon turned to joy, as the pod of a dozen dolphins revealed themselves, and then proceeded to accompany Matt for around an hour, jumping out of the water all around him as he paddled along. We’d have thought it was Matt’s own fatigue-induced hallucinations, had the moment not been caught on camera by his safety boat.






In spite of what must have been the extremest of tests of both mental and physical endurance, perhaps the most impressive feat of all was Fairbrother’s attitude and good humour throughout the week. Matt always took the time to chat with fellow racers at the start and finish of each stage, and remained extremely humble even at the podium, when it was confirmed that indeed, the boundaries of what is humanly possible on an MTB had just been smashed out of the park by this unassuming 19-year old. In fact, throughout the entire challenge, he was only once heard to raise his voice in anger or frustration - certainly excusable considering he’d just been attacked and bitten on the hand by a rogue wild rodent, even drawing blood. (You just couldn’t make this stuff up!). Our crew were on hand to make a swift and decisive example of the critter. No-one messes with The Fairbrother!





MATTHEW FAIRBROTHER takes the win after 6 days of enduro racing, with his personal total of 582km and +17,300m of elevation, versus 165km and only 4245m of climbing for everyone else. Kiwi Chris ALLMAN came second, with Canadian Matt BEER (Pinkbike's very own Tech Editor) finishing in 3rd. The time across all 27 race stages totalled almost 3 hours for each of the winners (and a lot more than that, for everyone else!).


A final indication of the mental fortitude required to even consider such an insane challenge in the first place, was hidden in Matt’s parting comments. When asked about how he felt about this incredible achievement, rather than revel in the enormity of what he had just done, Fairbrother was already thinking ahead to his next challenge:

“Yeah, it was pretty epic. I’m not really sure how I’m going to top this one…but I’ve got a few ideas in the pipeline”.

We’re certainly looking forward to hearing more about what they might be, although God only knows how he’s going to surpass himself this time.


There’s so much more to this incredible story, and you’ll get to hear and read about it soon in an extended documentary following Matt’s progress throughout his incredible challenge. Watch this space.

Our final race report summing up Days 5 & 6 of The NZ MTB Rally will be released tomorrow, but you can jump right into the first 4 days of action and full race results, in our previous Pinkbike reports.

Matt Beer will be giving us his own views on The NZ MTB Rally; on the technical and bike setup considerations to get through his week of racing and on bagging his own place on the podium; in a separate Pinkbike report - coming soon.

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Racing and Events Matthew Fairbrother