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| 2011 Yunca Tour peloton |
For the uninitiated, PETD is an affliction that manifests as a flat patch after a major event which has taken a huge amount of focus and preparation. Its most common symptom is people falling asleep at their desks. In our case, the cure after hosting the UCI Juniors Track World Championships four weeks ago was to get straight back to work on the next event on the calendar.
This weekend we host the annual Yunca Junior Tour of Southland. I’d love to tell you what number Yunca Tour it’s been, but our wonderful sponsor has been involved for so long, it’s pretty hard to keep up. NZ cycling legend Gordon McCauley recently remarked that when he was preparing training programmes for his younger charges which included the Yunca Tour, he realised it was sponsored by the same company when he rode it as a junior back in 1986. To quote our mate Gordy, “that’s pretty awesome sponsor longevity.”
The 2012 version kicks of on Friday at Teretonga Raceway with an Individual Time Trial followed by an afternoon kermese. Saturday’s two stages are raced at Te Tipua while Sunday morning features the tradition inner-city criterium, followed by the final stage around Mabel Bush and Springhills.
A record field of 187 will line up over eight different age categories with another strong contingent travelling from across the Tasman to compete. The event also doubles as the final round in the Junior National Points Series so some great racing in assured.
The event was originally developed to provide an opportunity for local juniors to ride in a multi-stage cycling race. Even though it has now grown in to an event of national and international standing, that original ethos still holds true, so look for a strong showing from the locals who will no doubt be looking to defend their home patch against the Australian and northern invasion.
There is also solid interest from a number of the junior programmes who attended Junior Worlds to return with road riders for the Yunca Tour, so the potential to grow the event further is exciting.
Keep an eye out for more news this week and live coverage during the weekend at www.cyclingsouth.org.nz/yuncatour.
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Another of the huge benefits from the recent Junior Worlds was the way our local schools embraced the event. Hundreds of Southland students got to strut their stuff in our Roller Racing Ride-Offs leading in to the event and yesterday at Stadium Southland Velodrome 17 teams from as far afield as Queenstown took part in the first ever Secondary School Team Sprint Competition.
Run in the same format as the highly successful Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit, yesterday provided the chance for a large number of Southland students to sample their first taste of track cycling. Full results will be published tomorrow, but there’s no doubt that there were some future stars in the making unearthed in what was another great event.
Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive