Magnificent Yunca Junior Tour

An outstanding weekend of racing concluded in McIvor Road yesterday afternoon as the Yunca Junior Tour of Southland finished its 26th edition.


I am in the fortunate position of enjoying events like the Yunca for the first time and yet again I was blown away by the magnificent racing, the fantastic atmosphere around the event and, as always, the incredible level of support from a huge number of volunteers and supporters.

As I write, the results team are furiously tapping away beside me to determine final classifications and in some age-groups to say it is close is an understatement.

The wind certainly made it tough on this year’s fields and following Friday’s Prologue at Teretonga the youngsters were put through their paces over another four stages around Otautau, Tuatapere, the Central City and finally around Mabel Bush/Springhills yesterday afternoon. You’ll find the final results elsewhere in this fine publication but all 160+ who lined up at the start line on Friday will certainly have earned their kip last night. I commend each and every one of them from for the level of commitment and mateship they showed over the three days of this year’s Tour.

The strong Australian contingent added another element to the racing. These relationships have been formed over many years and to hear yesterday afternoon just how highly our Aussie mates rated the event was very heartening. And let me tell you, they know how to handle a bike.

This also provides the opportunity for me to publicly thank the organising committee. The huge number of parents and Cycling Southland members and supporters who so willingly put their hand up to give up three days of their free time is astounding. You are the heartbeat of our organisation and I thank you greatly. A special thanks to Sier Vermunt, Phil Culling and Shane Brazier and their organising committee for delivering the best Yunca Tour yet.

We’re giving ourselves today off and then we follow up with our Trans-Tasman Challenge Track Carnival on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The only problem we have is that we have too many riders! Not a bad position to be in. Over 170 will line up over the two nights and there should be some spectacular racing.

It doubles as the first major local sporting event to be held in Stadium Southland’s ILT Velodrome since the Stadium collapse a fortnight ago. The way things have come together through the recent dramas is nothing short of extraordinary.

I know the whole community supports the Stadium team’s efforts over the last two weeks and the best way we can all show that we’re in behind them is by getting down to the ILT Velodrome this week. Curtain-raiser racing and happy hour starts at 6pm with the Race Programme beginning at 7pm both nights. My advice, get your ticket and get down early. We’ve come off a massive weekend on the road and we’re not planning on slowing down any on the track. See you down here.