Blake Affleck: 2026 NZ Enduro Champion
Owaka's teenage Honda rider is the national enduro champion and a Junior Trophy rider at the 2026 ISDE.
By ROOST New Zealand desk · 17 October 2026
Owaka's Blake Affleck is New Zealand's 2026 enduro champion, and he's only 18.
Racing a Honda 250RX, he won the title after a hard start: Sport Nation reported he finished fourth in an early round after losing a footpeg, then won the final three rounds to take the championship.
It followed a strong 2025, when he finished second overall to Bailey Basalaj in the New Zealand Enduro Championship. He won both the sprint and the long-loop phases at the final round in Martinborough, and he also made the 2025 ISDE team. He also competes in cross-country, and he won the opening junior race of the 2024 national cross-country championships near Nelson.
In October 2026 he's leading the New Zealand Junior Trophy Team at the 100th International Six Days Enduro in Portugal, alongside Ashton Whyte and Rakaia's Thomas Easton.
"It is so incredibly dry with lots of sand and rocks. It's just like riding on the beach at home," he told MNZ before racing began.
A farm kid from the Catlins, Affleck says his life is simple. "I've got awesome farm land to train and ride on, and all my mates flat out race bikes, so that's all I know and do really - it's just bikes."
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