Words Lester Pery
Images Cameron MacKenzie
At just 16 years old, Ellie Hulsebosch has chosen the path less trodden, in a quest to dominate downhill racing. For the next few years, she will opt for less school and more sport, working to complete her schooling while travelling the world, chasing her dreams.
She makes no secret of wanting to be the best, inspired by ex-world champ and fellow Bay Of Plenty resident, Vanessa Quinn. Seeing Vanessa out on the trails and knowing her history, Ellie was all ears when Vanessa offered up any tidbits of advice: “To be the fastest girl, you have to be the slowest boy” was one such quip, motivating Ellie to ride with her brother and his mates. Ellie points to Rachel Atherton as an inspiration in this vein, a strong woman riding with a host of the fastest guys around: her brothers.
Brought up in a tight-knit, supportive family, Ellie acknowledges their input in helping her push through the hard times to keep progressing towards her goals, no matter what she’s going through. While growing up in Tauranga, Ellie and her family got stuck into all sorts of outdoor sports, but after a stint of motocross, she eventually picked up a Canyon Spectral and took to mountain biking, “because Mum could do it too”.
Keen to satisfy her competitive spirit, Ellie jumped straight into racing. “My first downhill race was in late 2019, for Crankworx in Rotorua. I remember walking the whole track, getting a 7-minute time on a 3-minute track, and being smoked by all the other girls.”
Through 2020, Ellie dabbled in some Enduro racing, winning two rounds of the 2w Gravity Enduro. Then, through 2021, she switched focus to the NZ National Downhill Series, trading blows and podium positions with Erice Van Leuven and Sacha Earnest throughout the season. It wasn’t until November 2022 that Ellie broke cover and launched herself into the limelight with a win in the U17 category at the 2022 Crankworx Rotorua Taniwha Downhill, in a time that put her third fastest woman overall on the day.
By late 2022, she was firmly focused on dominating the downhill game, and got serious about training heading towards the 2023 season. A clean sweep of the summer National DH Series under 17 division was a massive boost of confidence. Unfortunately, her luck ran out on her final run at National Champs, Coronet Peak, in late February. A crash resulted in a stable compression fracture to her T5 vertebrae and ligament damage to her thumb. Fuelled by adrenalin and close to the finish line, she managed to pick herself up and break the timing beam in second place. She finished her NZ season with a National Series win, a silver medal at NZ champs, and some time off to let her body heal before jetting to Europe for her first stint of international racing later in the year.
“Verbier was the first race, and it was my favourite; the track was proper as well.” Straight to the podium’s top step in Verbier was the perfect way to begin her international career. A couple of races followed at Schladming, an iconic World Cup venue that was visited for two back-to-back races. “Schladming was really fun, but they had tapped off all the hard lines, so there were a lot of corners. I wasn’t too happy with how I went there, so as soon as I arrived home, I signed up for BMX.”
Wrapping up her time in Europe at Bellwald, Switzerland, Ellie won the Open division and was the fastest woman down the hill that day. Although she was on the other side of the world in foreign territory, Ellie had become a podium threat at every race she attended, and heads were turning.
In late 2023, Ellie had an email from Joe Bowman, owner and manager of the Union team, and over a few months, a deal was struck that would see Ellie join them for 2024. Joe gave us some background to Ellie being selected for the team: “We’ve always had a soft spot for Kiwis, and I think the whole Union ethos kind of fits helping out people from New Zealand and Oz, because you guys have it a lot tougher, coming over to Europe to race and being away from home so long, that you need a good level of support even to give it a go, let alone to actually try and race at the top.”
“I’ve always kept an eye on Kiwi national results because of Lachie (Lachlan Stevens-McNab), Tuhoto (Tuhoto ariki Pene) and Finn (Hawkesby- Browne) back in the day, and always saw Ellie’s name popping up at the top, through youth categories. When it got to the middle of last year, it was tricky times because we’d lost a bunch of sponsors and money and didn’t really know what was going to happen with the industry. But, at the same time, you’ve got to keep moving on. And we needed to fill a gap and wanted to get a junior woman. Ellie was obviously on the list. I’d also started to hear from a couple of other people about her. Sven Martin mentioned her and actually sent a message on Instagram that I never got until after the fact, that’s pretty funny. That says a lot. And I think just looking at the margins she was putting into people and where she was stacking up against the elites and juniors at Kiwi nationals, kind of said enough.”
After the industry took a dive post-COVID, Joe scrambled to secure new sponsors and funding as The Union headed toward the 2024 season. He couldn’t promise what gear they’d be using, but he was confident the puzzle pieces would fall into place on time, and they did. For 2024, The Union had a complete shake-up regarding their gear, eventually signing to ride Trek frames and Sram/Rock Shox components while decked out in Fox apparel. It was go time!
Joe continues, “I’ve been stoked character-wise. She’s a funny one. She’s kind of a mix of this super confident, smart young woman who’s crazy mature for her age in some ways, but then she’s also definitely still a kid, a teenager, and deals with all the usual stresses of racing and definitely has had some nerves creeping in, which have affected a few races. Just normal racing stuff. She is super smart and loves a yarn!”
Beginning the 2024 NZ season with National Series wins at Whangamata and Rotorua; things came crashing down in Christchurch during round three. A crash in the infamous rock garden while racing “The GC” left her sidelined with a broken knuckle and injured hand. Considering the consequences of crashing in that section, Ellie was glad to come away relatively unscathed and able to continue to fight for the remainder of the NZ National Series.
A sturdy strapping job and some painkillers helped her battle through the Cardrona National series round for round four, once again racing to the top step of the podium. A week later, she backed up that performance to win the National Championships at Coronet. A hard-fought race on a “one-dimensional” track was not one of Ellie’s favourites; she got the job done despite carrying her injuries from only two weeks earlier.
Crankworx Rotorua began Ellie’s journey into Downhill racing. By March 2024, she had gone from walking the track just four years earlier to walking to the podium, taking the overall women’s downhill win on Rotorua’s famed Taniwha downhill track.
With the NZ summer coming to a close, hours in the gym banked, sprints ticked off, a National Series overall win, a National Championship title, and armed with all the tools she needed to succeed thanks to her new team, Ellie set her sights on the World Cup Series and headed to Europe.
Ellie’s debut on the World Cup stage was the Fort William, Scotland opening round. Initially unsure of what to expect, her apprehension disappeared once she arrived at the venue and got stuck right into the thick of things. “Everyone is actually really nice and not nearly as big as they seem on TV, so it’s been pretty cool to talk to people who I look up to, and have them help me out — everyone in the scene is so nice.” She delivered a strong performance despite the challenging conditions. The notoriously rocky, wet, and foggy course can be a brutal monster to tame. Although leaving with third place was not what she wanted, it was a great start to the season.
After that solid start, Ellie headed to Bielsko Biala, Poland, for round two. Conditions were difficult, with wet and wild weather impacting the course and making for unpredictable and difficult-to-read track conditions. Despite her best efforts, Ellie didn’t have an ideal day, falling just short of the podium, under a second back from Kiwi compatriot, Sacha Earnest, who was third.
Another wet and unpredictable track greeted racers to round three of the World Cup Series in Leogang, Austria. A first-place qualifying run banked her solid points for the overall series standings but, like most, Ellie had some bobbles in the steep wooded sections during her finals run, rodeoing her way through the first steep section with both feet off. All was not lost, and even after nearly going over the bars, then getting off line and all but stalling out on the second steeps, she regained composure and got back on the pedals through the wide- open lower sections, finishing second behind Lower Hutt shredder, Erice Van Leuven.
Jumping back over to Italy, Ellie lined up for round four of the World Cup. Val Di Sole’s “Black Snake” course has a reputation for being one of the most challenging and physically demanding courses on the UCI World Cup circuit. The track is four and a half minutes of mayhem, requiring racers to deliver both physically and mentally, putting the risk and pain of the effort out of their mind to deal with the high-speed, technical course. In a pre-season interview, she voiced that the “Black Snake” of Val Di Sole was one of her favourite tracks, foreshadowing events to come. On June 15, 2024, Ellie stamped her authority on the sport with her maiden World Cup win, cementing herself firmly as one to watch for the future.
“There have only been highs this year so far. Things definitely haven’t gone the way I wanted them to sometimes, but I have been learning to make the most of every situation — take the positives and use them to grow — which has really helped when life throws obstacles at you…. which does happen a lot when you are flying down a hill!”
As you’d imagine, racing overseas is not a walk in the park for Ellie as she comes to grips with the pressure and stresses of racing on the world’s biggest stage. “The first few races (of 2024) were pretty hard, just getting really nervous, not eating and, for almost every race, my GoPro (from practice) was faster than my race runs. So I knew what mentally needed to change, and it was just trusting the process and remembering all the work I had done. At Val Di Sole, I just mentally felt good, as well as on the bike. I was starting to ride like me again after working on some stuff in the break between races, so it all came together.”
Round five of the 2024 World Cup saw the circus head to Les Gets in the Haute-Savoie region of France, an iconic, fast and technical track that Ellie would typically thrive on. During an early practice run, she misjudged her speed into a corner in the top sector of the track, ejecting herself over the back of the turn. The resulting yard-sale could have easily taken her out of the race before it even began. With a battered body, she had a slower build-in pace towards her final run than she would have hoped, but she was confident the speed would come when the time counted.
Qualifying on a mediocre run, feeling optimistic for a strong performance, she knew she could tidy things up and find more pace come the finals run. Frustratingly for her, the Juniors race was cancelled after heavy storms hit the area, leaving a saturated and slippery track deemed unsafe to race by officials. Ellie and fellow juniors had to settle for their qualifying positions as a final finish, leaving her in third.
“I think the hardest part has been not having my parents at all the races; they have always come to all my races and helped me, even just having a laugh or when I need a hug.”
Before the World Cup racing kicks off again after a nine-week summer break, Ellie will head to Pal Arinsal/Vallnord, Andorra, to take on the World Championships at the beginning of September. The 2024 Champs will be Ellie’s first visit to World Champs. Following the 2023 Junior Women’s podium sweep by the Kiwis, there’s quiet confidence around the scene that the Kiwis will once again be battling for that top step, and Ellie’s name is firmly in the mix as a contender for the win.
“I love training just because the harder you work, the luckier you get, and no matter what happens, no one can lie about that; if you don’t give up, it will show. It’s also my way to still get benefits but also to have a rest from biking and clear my head.”
With two rounds remaining, Ellie leads the 2024 World Cup at the time of writing. Fellow Kiwi, Erice Van Leuven, is a scant 10 points behind her, and the UK’s Heather Wilson is just another five points back; the season is still wide open, and we’re expecting fireworks come early September in Loudenvielle, France, and the final round at Mont-Saint-Anne, Canada, a month later.
What does the future hold? Well, it seems even Ellie isn’t entirely sure. “For now, I am going to focus on riding my bike and doing well as an athlete and see what opportunities open up for me, and we will see where I go from there.”
During a pre-season training camp, while answering questions on how her surname is pronounced, Ellie grinned and replied, “Ellie Hulsebosch, but Who’s the Boss will do”. This single sentence showed so much about her character, aspirations, and confidence. One to watch for the future, for sure!
