Take Pride in Southlanders' Efforts

Eddie Dawkins (l) and Natasha Hansen

As a Southlander you can be mighty proud of what has been achieved by Cycling Southland riders over the last week.

Southland has one hand on the National Points Shield, the symbol of NZ track cycling supremacy, after its charges dominated all-comers to secure a 19-point lead at the conclusion of last week’s Elite National Championships. Southland leads the pack with 41 points, well ahead of Auckland on 22.

A dominant position like this is earned by a great team performance, which was certainly the case for Southland, but there were some stand-outs. We can confirm Eddie Dawkins is back. The big fella took out the prize for male rider with most points at this year’s champs and his victory over Sam Webster in the Men’s Sprint Final was a highlight. Natasha Hansen was her untouchable self, breaking a couple of National records and securing another four national golds. She has almost single-handedly taken the Women’s Sprint program from nowhere to within sight of a spot at the Olympics in the space of six months. With Southland-based BikeNZ coach Stu MacDonald now in charge of the Women Sprinters, performances will lift and times will drop. At just 23 Hansen, like Dawkins, has a decade of international elite competition ahead of them. Who knows what they could achieve? Both are in London, trying out the Olympic velodrome this week at the latest round of the UCI World Cups. More of their winning smiles would be great to see.

There were, of course, other great stories. Cycling Southland’s Coaching Facilitator Matt Archibald continues to improve at a rapid rate and is applying plenty of pressure to get in on the Men’s sprint combination. Cam Karwowski put a lid on a hugely-impressive year with gold in the Men’s Kilo Time Trial and Tom Scully was as sharp as ever in the Points and Madison races.

But it was a pair of youngsters, Dylan Kennett and Hayden McCormick who turned on one of the most impressive performances seen on the Velodrome in recent times with an incredible victory over a star-studded Elite field in the Men’s Madison. It was a special win and a pointer to how strong the New Zealand team will be at the UCI Juniors Track World Championships in Invercargill in August.

And if all of that wasn’t enough – our two Southlanders in the Para-cycling squad got to stand on the podium at the World Para Championships in Los Angeles on Friday. Phillipa Gray and Laura Thompson claimed a bronze medal in the Individual Pursuit and then backed up on Saturday to finish fifth in the 1000-metre Time Trial. It was a big step in their aim to qualify for the Paralympics in London in August.

There’s nothing quite like seeing locals achieving on the national and international scene like this. Without wanting to sound flippant, with the regularity of success our cyclists achieve it would be easy to gloss over these performances. Don’t. Enjoy their success, because we sure are.