Now it's about winning

Eddie, Ethan & Sam with World Champ silvers

In past years, New Zealand's fledging team sprint combination used to turn up to competitions to gain international experience. Now they turn up to win.

Cycling Southland's Eddie Dawkins teamed with Auckland's Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster on Friday to claim this country's best ever result in the Men's Team Sprint at the UCI World track Cycling Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

The trio missed the world title by a miniscule margin (0.049 seconds) to claim silver behind Germany.

12 months ago I watched these three men stand on the podium in person in Melbourne when they won bronze at the 2012 World Championships. They did get a little helping hand from two faster teams who were relegated for various infringements, pushing the Kiwis into a ride for bronze, which they were good enough to win.

This year, they needed no assistance from other teams. They were just faster than them. After qualifying fastest they again lowered their personal best sea-level time in the final ride on Friday, but were beaten on the line by the fast-finishing Germans.

These boys finished fifth and sixth in 210 and 2011, prior to their medal-winning deeds over the last two years. With three world championships before the Rio Olympics and fellow Southlanders Matt Archibald and Tom Beadle adding depth to the squad, the question may well be not if they can win more medals, but how many and what colours will they be.

Yes, that brings expectation and its own pressure. But you only have to bear expectation when you are world class. And these boys are. It has been another hugely proud weekend, watching from afar.

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Early mornings watching internet video from Minsk will this week become long and late nights at the 2013 Age Group Track Championships at Stadium Southland Velodrome.

I wrote last week about the prospects for the five days of competition which begin on Tuesday night from 6:30pm. These championships may not have the big names of the Elites but, more often than not, they deliver more spectacular racing than their championship counterpart.

Large, even fields in the Under 15 and Under 17 ranks augers well for the sport's competitive future. The thing I love about the Age Groups is that you are either watching the champions of tomorrow, or the champions of yesterday. Juniors and Masters racing together is a great mix and with the addition of the Elite and Under 19 omniums, we have riders from eight different decades competing through to Saturday. Should be fun.

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I spent the weekend in central Otago for a mate's wedding (congrats Justin & Nicky) and reaquainted myself with the course that will host the Club Road Nationals in Queenstown in April. This is the biggest national championship event with north of 800 competitors predicted and Speargrass Flat/Malaghans Road will provide a stern test for all of them.

But first, we've got a little overtime to put in at the Velodrome this week. Hope to see you there.

Nick jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive

Giving thanks for those behind the scenes

Club racing at Waianiwa

It's been a hectic start to 2013. So when a rare weekend off presented itself, I travelled to the old home patch of Gore to give Sport Southland a hand at their outstanding MTL Moonshine Trail on Saturday (yes, I too was questioning my sanity when the alarm went off at 6am!)

It was a great event, expertly organised, wonderfully supported by volunteers and entrants and the weather gods even played ball.

It also brought home to me the outstanding job local sporting clubs and organisations do in providing great local events. In a lot of cases we don't consider the huge amount of work put in to deliver what must rank as one of the highest number of events per capita in the country.

This weekend was a great example. While over 400 were taking on the ups and downs of the Moonshine Trail from Dolamore Park, our club road racers were battling strong head and cross winds and on Sunday the first in our SouthPort Criterium Series was raced around Bill Richardson Drive.

Then come the next few weeks. From next Tuesday, Stadium Southland Velodrome plays host to over 200 track cyclists with the annual Age Group Nationals over five days, the Gore to Waikiwi classic and South Island Teams' Time Trial will be held the following weekend and then a large Southland contingent will pursue more national titles at the Club Road Nationals in Queenstown in April. And that's just our sport!
The people who deliver events don't do it for thanks, they do it because they love their sport. But don't under-estimate the difference a quick word of appreciation at the end of the day provides. It's the least we can do to recognise the countless hours and unrivalled passion these people have for all our sports.

While I'm on the topic of the weekend, a deserving congratulations to Matt Zenovich, Neil Familton and Kirstie James for their wins in trying conditions at Waianiwa on Saturday. Zenovich backed up to complete a double in winning A Grade at the SouthPort Crit on Sunday, with series leader jerseys also going to Stu MacDonald (B Grade), Daryl Haggerty (C Grade) and Glen Ferguson (D Grade) along with juniors Tom Sexton, Corbin Strong and Madeleine Gough. A good weekend's work by you all.

Offshore, Eddie Dawkins has safely arrived in Belarus for the World track Cycling Championships which kick off late Wednesday night, New Zealand time. The Men's kilo time trial is on the opening evening of competition (Thursday morning) and although yet to be confirmed, it would surprise if he and Simon van Velthooven don't line up to fill New Zealand's two qualification spots. The Team Sprint then follows on Friday morning. Last year I was lucky enough to watch Eddie stand on a world championship podium in person in Melbourne. We would love nothing better than a repeat performance  to cap what has been a stellar 12 months for the big guy. Rip 'em to shreds Ed!

National champs live up to hype

Steph McKenzie - Photo credit: Dianne Manson

Last week's Elite and U19 Track nationals held at Invercargill's Stadium Southland Velodrome was another outstanding success.

Great racing, great crowds and the great atmosphere which has become a hallmark of the velodrome over recent years, all added up to four great days of racing. Another seven national records fell by the wayside as New Zealand's elite track cyclists continue to raise the bar, year-by-year.

During my days in radio and in my brief sports administration career since, I have been lucky enough to attend plenty of spectacular sporting events but, all biases aside, what I saw last Saturday night will live in my memory for a long time.

Watching Simon van Velthooven, Eddie Dawkins, Matt Archibald and Sam Webster take the final bend four-wide at 70 kilometres an hour in the Men's Keirin  was nothing short of breath-taking. There are plenty of folk who have seen a lot more bike racing than I who rated that final as one of the best they'd seen - a truly world class field, putting on a great show as they hunted down a national title and, perhaps just as importantly, bragging rights over their mates for 12 months.

Southlanders again performed with distinction but now know they have the tough task to retain the National Points Shield with Auckland holding a narrow lead on the Points Table after the first Championships. The shield is awarded at the conclusion of the Age Group Championships which start later this month and it will come down to our squad of junior and masters riders to determine whether the Shield stays in Invercargill for a sixth-successive year.

The good news for Southland is that we have seen the last of Aaron Gate and Simon van Velthooven these championships - their dominance last week a major factor in Auckland's five point lead.

Steph McKenzie continued her rapid recent development, earning her first elite national title in the women's sprint while Natasha Hansen finished strongly to claim a dominant keirin win and lowered both her national 200m record before smashing the Team Sprint mark with McKenzie. Matt Archibald also continued to stake a claim for consistent higher honours and was undoubtedly the unlucky party in the selection for the World Championships, missing out on joining mate Eddie Dawkins in the five-man squad by virtue of Aaron Gate's four gold medals which gave the selectors no option but to take him to ride the endurance events in Minsk.

One of the success of the championship was the inclusion of the Under 19 events alongside the Elite programme. Jeremy Presbury, Liam Aitcheson, Josh Haggerty and Laura Heywood are all good chances at gaining Junior Worlds' selection after the Age Group Champs.

The Age Groups feature, Under-15 and Under 17 grades as well as the Masters age categories and the Elite and Under-19 Omniums. It starts on the night of Tuesday 26 February and then features two sessions per day until Saturday 2 March. Should be a great climax to another huge track season.

Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive