Of all the sporting victories recorded over the weekend, Saturday's announcement regarding the securing of naming rights for the rebuilt Stadium Southland and the Velodrome was a biggest win for the sporting sector.
It seems fitting to me that two organisations like the Invercargill Licensing Trust and Southern Institute of Technology that are inextricably linked with the development of Invercargill as a city over recent years are the two who have stepped up to ensure the Southland community will continue to enjoy world-class facilities at our collective back doors.
In classic fashion, we don't know what we've got until we lose it even though the Velodrome has provided a more than suitable temporary venue for the Steel and Sharks, evidenced by two sell-out crowds in three days this weekend.
Once the doors are opened and the thousands of weekly users are shuffling back through doors as they used to before that fateful September 2010 day, my hope is that we don't let ourselves forget how fortunate we are to work and play in a facility like Stadium Southland.
Nor should we forget the outstanding contributions from the many organisations who fronted up to make it happen. I have little doubt that the Southland sporting community would join me when, on behalf of Cycling Southland, I offer sincere thanks for yet another spectacularly generous investment in the fabric of Southland community.
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Another week of outstanding results by Cycling Southland members scattered around the globe. Steph McKenzie continues to dominate the competition in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania winning the UCI Festival women's keirin to back up her Keirin Cup win the previous week. The keirin may not be her preferred discipline but Stephie is showing outstanding form and she has one more chance to rake in UCI points before returning to New Zealand to continue her build up to the Oceania Championships here in Invercargill in November.
Meanwhile the Men's sprinters are also turning heads across the Atlantic in Europe. The southern contingent of Eddie Dawkins, Matt Archibald and Tom Beadle are certainly making a mark with their off-season form. Dawkins recorded a blistering 9.9 second 200 metres on a concrete track in Cottbus, Germany on Saturday night before eventually finishing 6th in the Men's sprint with Archibald also performing with distinction, finishing 8th in the world class 53-man competition.
Out on the road, Tom Scully has had a memorable month with his latest victory coming in the London Nocturne criterium last week where he led home a high quality field to claim his second Tour Series victory in a matter of days.
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The first official function in the 2013 WHK Corporate Pursuit was held this week with the Team Briefing night setting our 29 teams up for the build up to August's finals days. First blood (probably literally) goes to AWS Legal and Waihopai Health Services who won the honour to have a team member's legs waxed by Surrender Hair Design at the Grading Time Trial. Let the inter-team negotiations begin!
Nick Jeffrey is the Chief Executive of Cycling Southland
Cycling Southland CEO's Blog from inside the Stadium Southland Velodrome
Monday, June 24, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
So many moments to witness
One of the blessings of working at Cycling Southland over the last three years is the fact that I get to witness outstanding performances first hand across over the myriad of events we deliver in the deep south.
I watched world records fall at Junior World Track Champs on Stadium Southland Velodrome. I was there last Easter when Eddie Dawkins stood on a world championship podium in Melbourne and broke through the 10 second barrier in the Men's Sprint. I've seen Southlanders lift the coveted National Points Shield after four Track Cycling Nationals. I was on the finish line as Josh Haggerty, Matt Zenovich, Erin Criglington and Sophie Williamson won road race national titles this year and I was in the same spot over three outstanding Tour of Southland finishes, including watching a youthful PowerNet team featuring Southlanders Tom Scully and Cam Karwowski, expertly defend Josh Atkins' tour lead in 2011. See why I feel privileged?
There are, of course, literally dozens of other worthy performances I could add to this short-list but even given all that, I'm not stretching the truth at all when I say one of my favourite annual events is ready to roll - the WHK Corporate Pursuit.
No event captures all that Cycling Southland tries to be as an organisation like this one. It introduces more people to track cycling than any other during the year, passing on the cycling bug to a new intake every 12 months.
It provides a great social atmosphere, with plenty of inter-team banter throughout the six week build up and on race days and its success is built on our team of volunteer coaches and officials guiding our teams in to well-oiled pursuit combinations, exceeding their own expectations by going faster than they could have imagined. It should also be noted that it's a fairly decent talent identification programme with Cherie Champion (Southland District Council), Brett Roulston (Calder Stewart) and Brendon Akeroyd (Stonewood Homes) among others, all lining up at the Age Group Track Championships in March after starring in last year's pursuit.
This year, 29 teams will be put through their paces in early August along with our all new Corporate Roller Racing Challenge, where the teams will compete for great prizes each week during the competition build-up thanks to Lone Star and Speights and we're delighted to have great cycling supporters like H&J's Outdoor World on-board, along with our outstanding new event sponsor WHK.
Try picking a winner from this list; Amalgamated Builders, AWS Legal, BNZ, EIS Group, Environment Southland, Fonterra, Harrex Group, HW Richardson, IFS Growth Ltd, Invercargill Licensing Trust, McIntyre Dick & Partners, Mitre 10 Mega, NZ Fire Service (two teams), NZ Police, Opus International, PowerNet, Preston Russell Law, Ricoh, SBS Bank, Southern District Health Board, SouthPort, Speights Ale House, The Radio Network, Westpac, WHK, Waihopai Health Services, Whyte's Gravel Supplies and YMCA.
Even if the winners aren't a sure bet, having a lot of fun sure is. So let's get into it!
Nick Jeffrey is Chief Executive at Cycling Southland
I watched world records fall at Junior World Track Champs on Stadium Southland Velodrome. I was there last Easter when Eddie Dawkins stood on a world championship podium in Melbourne and broke through the 10 second barrier in the Men's Sprint. I've seen Southlanders lift the coveted National Points Shield after four Track Cycling Nationals. I was on the finish line as Josh Haggerty, Matt Zenovich, Erin Criglington and Sophie Williamson won road race national titles this year and I was in the same spot over three outstanding Tour of Southland finishes, including watching a youthful PowerNet team featuring Southlanders Tom Scully and Cam Karwowski, expertly defend Josh Atkins' tour lead in 2011. See why I feel privileged?
There are, of course, literally dozens of other worthy performances I could add to this short-list but even given all that, I'm not stretching the truth at all when I say one of my favourite annual events is ready to roll - the WHK Corporate Pursuit.
No event captures all that Cycling Southland tries to be as an organisation like this one. It introduces more people to track cycling than any other during the year, passing on the cycling bug to a new intake every 12 months.
It provides a great social atmosphere, with plenty of inter-team banter throughout the six week build up and on race days and its success is built on our team of volunteer coaches and officials guiding our teams in to well-oiled pursuit combinations, exceeding their own expectations by going faster than they could have imagined. It should also be noted that it's a fairly decent talent identification programme with Cherie Champion (Southland District Council), Brett Roulston (Calder Stewart) and Brendon Akeroyd (Stonewood Homes) among others, all lining up at the Age Group Track Championships in March after starring in last year's pursuit.
This year, 29 teams will be put through their paces in early August along with our all new Corporate Roller Racing Challenge, where the teams will compete for great prizes each week during the competition build-up thanks to Lone Star and Speights and we're delighted to have great cycling supporters like H&J's Outdoor World on-board, along with our outstanding new event sponsor WHK.
Try picking a winner from this list; Amalgamated Builders, AWS Legal, BNZ, EIS Group, Environment Southland, Fonterra, Harrex Group, HW Richardson, IFS Growth Ltd, Invercargill Licensing Trust, McIntyre Dick & Partners, Mitre 10 Mega, NZ Fire Service (two teams), NZ Police, Opus International, PowerNet, Preston Russell Law, Ricoh, SBS Bank, Southern District Health Board, SouthPort, Speights Ale House, The Radio Network, Westpac, WHK, Waihopai Health Services, Whyte's Gravel Supplies and YMCA.
Even if the winners aren't a sure bet, having a lot of fun sure is. So let's get into it!
Nick Jeffrey is Chief Executive at Cycling Southland
Monday, June 10, 2013
Giving kudos where its due
Thanks to Queen's Birthday we missed last week. I know, that's the reason you've been feeling something was missing for the last seven days, right? So, somewhat belatedly, I want to reflect on the outstanding night that was the ILT Southland Sports Awards, ten days ago.
As New Zealanders, we do a fairly mediocre job of recognising our achievers and as Southlanders we are probably even closer to the conservative end of the scale. Nights like we enjoyed at the Ascot Park Hotel Friday week ago, are about as close as we get to publicly recognising outstanding accomplishment.
If you're anything like me, you start reading the morning paper from the back page, not the front - because that's likely to mean you start the day in a more positive fashion. And don't even think about watching the news at night with your eight and 10-year-olds because it is 90 percent mayhem, death and destruction - the only thing that changes each night is the order they come in!
Then along comes the ILT Southland Sports Awards and our faith in humanity can be restored (at least until we watch the news the next night). Every name that flashed up on the screen as finalists and plenty more that missed making the cut, in another hugely competitive year, deserve to be shouted from the rooftops. I'm lucky enough to work in the sporting sector so I see first-hand week after week what great things are achieved across the age groups locally, nationally and internationally.
As the host of the evening my job was to remain apolitical, although I did have to draw attention to cycling having the most nominations and the most number of winners on the night (in an apolitical way of course).
Erin Criglington's stellar year was rightfully recognised with the Radio Network Masters Achievement award. She is more-or-less unbeatable in her age group and every time she powers out of the starting gate for a time trial or individual pursuit, she lowers her own national record. It's just the fillet for Erin, with her next performance focus, a little competition called the World Masters Championships in Manchester in October.
Another with World Champs on his mind is the Ricoh Southland Coach of the Year Ross Machejefski. Rossco has built an outstanding record over the last two years at the Junior World Championships, including last year's 10 medal haul in Invercargill. Glasgow awaits in August for the 2013 edition and Southlanders Josh Haggerty, Jeremy Presbury and Alexandra's Liam Aitcheson will be with him, looking to turn the silver and bronze from the last two campaigns into gold.
The cycling haul was completed by triple Paralympic medalists Phillipa Gray and Laura Fairweather who took out the Southland Vehicle Sales Team of the Year after returning from London with a full set of medals.
They are just three great stories from a night that included dozens more. We just need to do a better job of telling them.
Nick Jeffrey is the Cycling Southland Chief Executive
As New Zealanders, we do a fairly mediocre job of recognising our achievers and as Southlanders we are probably even closer to the conservative end of the scale. Nights like we enjoyed at the Ascot Park Hotel Friday week ago, are about as close as we get to publicly recognising outstanding accomplishment.
If you're anything like me, you start reading the morning paper from the back page, not the front - because that's likely to mean you start the day in a more positive fashion. And don't even think about watching the news at night with your eight and 10-year-olds because it is 90 percent mayhem, death and destruction - the only thing that changes each night is the order they come in!
Then along comes the ILT Southland Sports Awards and our faith in humanity can be restored (at least until we watch the news the next night). Every name that flashed up on the screen as finalists and plenty more that missed making the cut, in another hugely competitive year, deserve to be shouted from the rooftops. I'm lucky enough to work in the sporting sector so I see first-hand week after week what great things are achieved across the age groups locally, nationally and internationally.
As the host of the evening my job was to remain apolitical, although I did have to draw attention to cycling having the most nominations and the most number of winners on the night (in an apolitical way of course).
Erin Criglington's stellar year was rightfully recognised with the Radio Network Masters Achievement award. She is more-or-less unbeatable in her age group and every time she powers out of the starting gate for a time trial or individual pursuit, she lowers her own national record. It's just the fillet for Erin, with her next performance focus, a little competition called the World Masters Championships in Manchester in October.
Another with World Champs on his mind is the Ricoh Southland Coach of the Year Ross Machejefski. Rossco has built an outstanding record over the last two years at the Junior World Championships, including last year's 10 medal haul in Invercargill. Glasgow awaits in August for the 2013 edition and Southlanders Josh Haggerty, Jeremy Presbury and Alexandra's Liam Aitcheson will be with him, looking to turn the silver and bronze from the last two campaigns into gold.
The cycling haul was completed by triple Paralympic medalists Phillipa Gray and Laura Fairweather who took out the Southland Vehicle Sales Team of the Year after returning from London with a full set of medals.
They are just three great stories from a night that included dozens more. We just need to do a better job of telling them.
Nick Jeffrey is the Cycling Southland Chief Executive
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