Gutsy effort from Leary earns plaudits at World Championships | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

She might not have finished the race but a gutsy performance from Rotorua's Nic Leary won over spectators at the World Mountainbike Championships in Canada.

A crash on the start line of the biggest race of her career left Leary no other option but to run the first 3km until she reached the first technical zone for assistance.

Leary, 26, was ranked 37th going into the elite women's cross country race at Mont Sainte Anne yesterday (NZT).

She was pulled from the course with two laps to go.

Her partner Mark Leishman said her race was over within 20 seconds of the start for no fault of her own.

"Somehow someone's brake rotor managed to slice the side wall of her tyre, it was basically game over," Leishman said.

"The course was about 5km long and once started you couldn't double back to the second technical zone so she had to get over the first 3km, which was the most technical and hardest part. I assume she pushed or carried her bike but she came back through the start lap 8 minutes down, dead last and four minutes behind second to last.

"She had a huge ovation from all the teams for running. She rode as hard as she could, picked up a few people in front of her. She figured she might as well smash herself while she was there.

"Apparently, she was pretty popular because she looked like someone riding with all she had. She made the best of a bad situation."

Leishman said he hadn't had a chance to speak to Leary about her race but had received a short email from her and spoken to the New Zealand team physio - Rotorua's Ant Croucher.

"He said something about her shin being cut up, too." he said.

"I think she was gutted but it was a freak thing. You don't expect something like that to happen and there's not a lot you can do about it."

Meanwhile, Rotorua junior mountain biker Dirk Peters ended his world championship campaign on a high note.

Peters, in his first year as an Under 23, worked his way through the field and finished in 36th. Fellow Rotorua-based rider Carl Jones - a late addition to the world championship team - finished just behind in 39th.

Their race was held under the peripheral effects of Atlantic northbound Hurricane Earl, which ramped the heat and humidity up during the afternoon. Peters said he had a rough patch in the middle of the race.

"The pace in the early laps was being dictated by the speed off the front, and it took me a lap in the middle before I could find my own rhythm and get comfortable with riding my own race," Peters said.

Elite men competitor Mike Northcott, of Tokoroa, finished 65th in his "fast as fast" race.

He and fellow Kiwi Stu Houltham (Wellington) both had poor grid positions and looked to move ahead and fight for position on the lead lap.

However, first Houltham and then Northcott fell to the 80 per cent lap out rule, and couldn't complete the full seven-lap race.