WORDS BY Lester Perry
IMAGES BY Cameron Mackenzie

Lachie’s success in BMX didn’t come quickly, but once the tap was opened, race wins flowed. World titles began at age six in South Africa, followed by more at ages seven and nine, alongside three second places. His last BMX World Championship in Auckland, at the UCI BMX World Championships in July 2013, aged nine, was a special one—clinching the win from Connor Defrain (USA), who’d pipped him for the win the previous year in Birmingham (UK).

Joe Bowman, the owner/manager of Lachie’s current team, ‘The Union’, comments: “He’s got an amazing family. I think they’ve just brought him up really well, and he’s confident in his abilities, but also with BMX racing—that he obviously did a ton of when he was younger—and winning world championships, and dealing with the stress and pressures from such a young age, you can see it in him now that he’s at peace with it.”

As his competition sprouted and he grew physically stronger, Lachie lagged, becoming one of the smaller riders in his age bracket. “Everyone was growing heaps in BMX and, as you know, the starts are so important, and I just couldn’t get a good first straight. My track speed was always good, I would always be there, but those other kids were just getting way bigger than me. And so I just couldn’t really compete. I was just pretty over it. I love BMX, to be honest. It was sick. I do miss the head to head stuff.”

Frustration grew, and unsatisfied with his training not converting to wins, Lachie began spending more and more time riding the Whakarewarewa trail system, literally a stone’s throw from the Rotorua BMX track.

Lachie never “quit BMX”, but the trails were calling and, slowly, he began to spend more time on a mountain bike than a BMX.

“I was just riding mountain bikes for fun with my mates at the weekend. Originally, when I first started riding mountain bikes, I wanted to do slopestyle—I loved Brandon Semenuk— but I realised pretty quickly that it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” explains Lachie.

When Crankworx came to town in 2015, Lachie immersed himself in downhill culture, watching the best in the game race the Ngongotaha downhill. He caught the bug and knew what he wanted to do. “I met Loic Bruni and then all the Kiwi boys too, when Crankworx came to Rotorua, while watching that downhill. I got a downhill bike not long after that. Do you remember that big tabletop they had at the bottom of Skyline? I pushed up the hill, and was trying to jump that, cause I’d just been watching Georgie B (George Brannigan) and Brook (Brook MacDonald) ride it. So I was frothing. I was 14 when I was like, oh yeah, I want to race World Cups.”

Thanks to the shuttle-accessed downhill tracks in Rotorua, Lachie’s progress on the MTB was rapid compared to some, but he wasn’t a standout immediately. His first couple of years racing downhill were nothing exceptional and a steep learning curve. By 2019, Lachie was taking downhill seriously, and BMX was on the back burner. “My dad took me to the Oceania Champs in Bright, Australia. I got smoked; that was my first year Under 17. It was a good weekend if I was a top five in my first year Under 17.”

A year of racing and a growth spurt later, Lachie’s second year in Under 17 was better and he started doing well in New Zealand during that time.

Spring forward to 2021 and, like most Kiwis chasing the World Cup dream, Lachie began his European racing chapter travelling in—and living out of—a van with Alex Wayman and Finn Hawkesbury-Brown. Thanks to downhill’s tight-knit community, Lachie and “the boys” managed to get themselves out of numerous sticky situations and gain some valuable experience and some solid finishes with podiums across World Cups, Crankworx and IXS downhill events early in the season, capped with a third place at the World Championships.

In typical Kiwi “make-do” fashion, Lachie ran the gear he could make work best for him. “I went over on a Transition TR11 that I’d just got. It was a 27.5 wheeled bike. I just put a Fox 49 (fork) on it with a 29” wheel, slid the stanchions right through to get the head angle right. I took my forks to Fox and they were like, ‘what the heck are you doing? You’re bashing your seals to bits!’ I’d pulled my forks too far through, so each time I bottomed out, I’d hit the seals on the crown.”

For 2022, Lachie joined The Union under the watchful eye of owner/manager Joe Bowman: “I think he’s got that funny, menacing, just slightly loose Kiwi side, which we all kinda know and love, and I think some of the older Kiwi riders on the circuit have been known for that too. On the flip side, he’s super thoughtful, much smarter than people give him credit for; a dude who’s super caring and is very loyal as well.”

Aboard a new bike and with a new team environment, early 2022 brought Lachie an NZ Under 19 overall National Series win and another National Championship on home turf before returning to Europe for the World Cup season. Beginning strongly, Lachie opened his 2022 UCI World Cup account with a fourth place in the opening round in Lourdes, France. He backed this up at round three in a muddy Leogang (Austria), going one better to stand third on the box. On to round four in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), going one better into second place, Lachie was rapidly cementing himself as one to watch. Andorra didn’t go his way, a bit off the pace, but still a top ten finish, in eighth position. Lachie wrapped up his World Cup season with a pair of fourth places in Snowshoe (USA) and Mont-Sainte-Anne (Quebec, Canada), his consistency putting him in third overall for the 2022 World Cup series.

Joe adds, “I think Lachie is quite simple in the sense that he never asks for anything; he’s the opposite of a diva, and over the years—almost to a fault—he’s never asked for a single thing, even this year when he is challenging for the win, there’s never an ounce of, ‘I need this, I need that’, no dramas or anything. He just cracks on, and I think that’s a massive strength for him. The biggest strength he’s got over most other racers is that he’s so mentally strong, and I think that’s part of it; that’s his personality. He’s mentally strong in general, and I think that carries into his racing and is why he’s been so good this year, he’s always been there. He’s just had numerous brutal injuries because he’s been a bit loose on the bike. He’s reined that in now, and this season it’s all clicked.”

World Champs 2022 in Les Gets (Fr) was a pivotal moment for Lachie; a massive crash during qualifying left him with a snapped and displaced radius and ulna, and a broken T8 in his back. Not only did this put him out of that race, but started a run of bad luck and injuries. “That was over the bars, out of the roots; I just ejected out the front. That was huge. I broke my back, broke my wrist. Two weeks in hospital, in France. My mum had never come to a race, and then she came over for one, and that was the race!

“I was in this big back brace for a fair while, like three months, it was this big corset I was in day and night—I could only get out of it to shower. I had to be super careful of how I was sitting or how I’d stand up. I just had to be super still. So that was like day and night for two months. After two months, I could finally sleep with it off.”

Then 2023 was another season of discontent. Having recovered enough to get back on the bike just weeks prior, Lachie was easing back into things at the Christchurch round of the NZ National Series and got caught out by a rock hidden in the infamous moon dust of the Christchurch Adventure Park’s GC trail. Another over the bars incident, another broken wrist and a period off the bike before launching into the 2023 World Cup season, his first in Elite.

Lenzerheide kicked things off for Lachie’s Elite career. A 26th place after months of adversity was a small comfort, considering his pace the previous year. But 2023 didn’t get much better for him, unfortunately. He crashed in qualifying at the following round in Leogang, then crashed while training in Schladming a week later, blowing his ankle up. Bone bruising and ligament issues plagued the remainder of his season. With his The Union contract coming up for renewal at the end of the year and no guarantee they would continue into 2024, Lachie knew he needed to get back to racing asap. “I tried to come back for Snowshoe and Mount Sainte Anne. I couldn’t even ride Snowshoe. And at MSA, I crashed in qualifying.”

Regardless of the uncertainty and Lachie’s injuries, The Union committed to Lachie, and although they didn’t have all their ducks in a row for 2024 they were keen to keep him on the squad. “Joe said to me, yeah, we’ll keep you on. I’m pretty lucky with Joe—he’s the best dude I could have met. He didn’t need to keep me on—and if he didn’t, maybe I’d just be working for the old man now. So now I’m pretty lucky with Joe and that team,” says Lachie.

Joe adds; “After two years of brutal injuries, he’s basically just put his head down, worked even harder, and come out swinging this year when everyone had forgotten about him. I think people had written him off to be honest, and it’s been the sickest thing ever to watch him do his thing—and it just proves, I think, that just having the right environment and giving people time is key. It’s like not every rider just comes out swinging and wins everything in Junior, and Lachie’s the perfect example of that. It’s what The Union’s always been about, same with Antoine Pierron, Ollie Zwar, Tuhoto-ariki Pene, there’s been a few, Ollie Davis as well. Lachie’s just the next in line for that.”

As 2024 dawned, Lachie put the injuries and uncertainty of 2023 behind him. Joe had pulled together support for The Union, and it was all systems go heading into the new year. After an off-season of rehab and solid training, Lachie came in hot. At the opening round of the NZ National Series, in Whangamata, he bested second placed Sam Gale by almost eight seconds on a course with tight times. His dominance continued through the remainder of the NZ season, laying waste to the field across the remaining rounds in Rotorua, Christchurch and Cardrona.

In late February, NZ’s finest clashed with international favourites at the NZ Championships. The infamously one-lined, fast-paced track means tight times; a tiny mistake can cause a racer to tumble down the results sheet quickly. Lachie kept his winning ways rolling, heads were turning, and his name was on everyone’s lips come the end of the NZ season.

The Whoop UCI World Cup season kicked off in Fort William, Scotland, in early May. After qualifying in 18th position, stoke was high as Lachie headed into the semi-finals. An unfortunate broken chain as he headed into ‘the Motorway’, a critical section where having a chain was vital, put him back in 37th position. It was a frustrating start to the season, but the signs were there that his pace was where it needed to be.

Round two in Szczyrk, Poland, was another key moment in Lachie’s evolution towards being a top-level racer. He built on a qualifying result of seventh, finishing fifth in semis. Finals run was one to remember. Every race fan around the globe will have been sitting on the edge of their seat. Aggressive but controlled, Lachie was up by 1.4 seconds at the final split, and everything pointed towards a win… until it didn’t. A rapid washout of the front wheel put his dreams of a win on hold. I’d imagine everyone watching the race, regardless of who they were rooting for, would have had a lump in their throat after that rollercoaster of a run. It will go down with infamy as one of the “almost” runs of the season.

“It’s just a matter of time. I was gutted after Poland but, at the same time, I was seventh in qualifying and fifth in semis. I was at the top (waiting for finals), and Amaury Pierron was warming up just there, and I was a bit mind- blown. I was nervous, but I was just trying to enjoy the moment. I know now what a winning run feels like. I haven’t had another run like that this year. As much as I could have had a World Cup win. I think it was like, ‘I’ll come back and try again.’ It’s just as it is. I’m not too gutted; it was a cool experience to finally have that pace.”

Joe shares thoughts about Lachie’s Polish performance: “He was seventh in qualis, fifth in semis, and then nearly won finals and crashed, and I was kind of worried. I was like, oh man, is that going to fry his head, and is he going to try and push too hard for the rest of the season? But instead, he just came out swinging straight away at Leogang and got that first podium, and he’s kind of backed it up since then, which is the coolest part because consistency is the hardest thing about racing.”

Three seconds, that’s how close he was to a win at round three in Leogang. A solid weekend peaked in finals as, once again, Lachie had everyone on the edge of their seats. Third place and his first Elite Podium!

Val-di-sole, Italy, was the next stop for the World Cup circus. Unfortunately, after a tenth in qualifying, the “black snake” bit hard, and a bent rear brake rotor in Semis put an end to his dream of continuing his podium streak, finishing in 32nd, just missing the top thirty cut-off for finals. Easing the frustration but also stoking the fire for upcoming races was seeing team mate, Ellie Hulsebosch win her first World Cup. On to the next one! Les Gets, France, was next up. Heavy weather impacted the finals after sunshine and prime conditions through practice, making an unpredictable and sketchy course by the time Elite Men started their day. What played out was one of the toughest World Cups in recent memory, with almost everyone struggling to stay on their bike at some point during their run. The “impossible corner” claimed more than a few top-tier riders. Lachie kept things somewhat under control, going 12th in qualifying, 13th in Semis, and then rounding out the weekend with a solid 11th place after a wild weekend.

The 2024 UCI World Champs took place in Pal Arinsal, Andorra, at the end of August. A blazing fast track greeted riders and, with speeds high, times were tight. Lachie built speed over practice and qualified 19th. In his first attendance at a World Cup, Lachie had his dad up on the hill checking lines for him and, while charging down a high-speed section, Lachie’s front wheel went from under him, driving him to a dead stop, headfirst into a stump on the trail—right in front of his dad! It was a brutal impact. This easily could have been the season over for him, but he recomposed for the final and ended up 16th in his first Elite World Champs.

Wild weather played its part again, this time for round six in Loudenvielle, France, a week after World Champs. Riding a high, Lachie pinned his qualifier, taking the fastest time through the last split, ending up qualifying in the ninth spot despite harsh conditions. Into finals, Lachie was looking good, but a small off-track excursion in the slippery conditions cost him dearly, pushing him back to 29th. He ended up third at the second split after the race finished, and in he was running third in the split which he’d crashed. What could have been!

Jumping the ditch over the US to finish his season, Lachie was hungry; there was no question his speed was there, he just needed the puzzle pieces to fall into place. Come ‘The Fox US Open of MTB’ in Vermont, they finally did. A dominant performance saw him win qualifying and the final, taking the podium’s top step amongst a field of high-performers. After a ‘shoey’ on the podium, his focus quickly switched to the final round of the UCI World Cup the following week—and his last chance for a World Cup win in 2024.

Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, is an infamous track known for its sketchy rock sections where one wrong move could send you over the bars and into the hospital. Qualifying was a write-off after a red flag on the course bu, fortunately, having now moved up the rankings to have a protected status, Lachie automatically made it into the semifinals. Taking a relaxed approach, and trying to stay chilled through the gnarly sections, Lachie slid into eleventh in the semifinals. He had more to give come finals. Surviving the greasy, unpredictable sections, he hooked into second place, his highest World Cup finish and proof that he was now a safe bet for a win when the time came.

“To be that close to the win was pretty unreal, I couldn’t believe it. It was a really good run. It was solid. There were some little mistakes, just a little bit offline, and there were some bits that were pretty greasy. So, for how greasy it was, it was really good. But it wasn’t like my Poland run. I felt what the winning run feels like in Poland; it was unreal how it felt there, but Mont-Sainte-Anne wasn’t that.”

Joe sums up where Lachie is currently: “I think his mentality is key as well; he still has fun and is not just a boring racer. You could call it the pub rule— you’d still go for a beer with him, wouldn’t you? You can’t say that about all the riders, especially these days, so I’m beyond proud of him. He’s a mate, and I can’t wait to see what he does going forward; now he’s going to have proper factory support (for 2025) and he’s only just getting going, you know, at 20. I honestly believe he’s going to win a World Cup next year and be a challenger for years and years to come, so I’m excited to see it.”

In the grand scheme of things, Lachie’s career has taken a hockey-stick-like trajectory, going from the sketchy grom I remember sitting in the front of the Rotorua shuttle bus, his signature dreads poking out from under his full-face helmet, to a more clean-cut pro- racer with his head screwed on—one who there is no doubt is destined for greatness.

If he’s achieved so much in such a short timeframe, what can he achieve in that same period of time over the coming years? One thing’s for sure: race fans worldwide will be watching.