Stories behind World Champs selections

Jeremy Presbury (l) and Tom Beadle

Cycling Southland enjoyed one of its proudest weeks over the past seven days. In a 24 hour stretch eight of our Club members were named in New Zealand squads to represent their country at world championships and each and every one of them has got there on the back of a huge amount of hard work, sacrifice and dedication individually and by their support teams and families.

To have five Cycling Southlanders in the black skin suit taking on the world’s best in front of a home crowd at Junior Worlds in August is the beyond our wildest dreams. But it’s the manner in which these young men and women have earned selection which gives me the most enjoyment.

Liam Aitcheson was lying in a hospital bed last year after a serious head injury after coming off his bike. He turned up and rode the Southland track champs in December with little experience on the boards but his rides in the points and individual pursuit made many put a line under his name as “one to watch.” He backed that up with a superb victory in the Points race at the Nationals and basically gave the selectors no option but to pick him.

Tom Beadle’s talent on a bike can’t be questioned but after 12 months of overcoming curve-balls thrown at him by his body, he produced a superb National Championship campaign to lock down selection. Sophie Williamson has also triumphed over injury and health issues this past year. She again showed her mercurial talent in winning the Points gold at Nationals on a limited build-up and is a great chance to improve on her bronze medal from last year’s worlds.

Cycling has a habit of taking late-starters and turning them in to national reps in a short space of time. Kate Dunlevey is another example. She broke the qualification mark in the 500m Time Trial at Nationals and her rapid progression makes her a key part of the women’s sprint programme. Then there’s Jeremy Presbury, another who forced his way into the squad on the back of form at the Nationals. He has literally exploded into national consideration over the last six months and we know there is plenty more where that came from.

The following day, Eddie Dawkins, Natasha Hansen and Matt Archibald were named to ride at the World Elite Championships in Melbourne next week.

By his own admission Eddie hasn’t been at his best over the last year. We can confirm, right on cue, the big fella is back! Natasha Hansen’s rapid progression has been well documented and she again lowered her PB over 200 metres in Perth on Saturday night, proving she is timing her preparation to perfection. If there is a more dedicated man than Matt Archibald, I’m yet to meet him. He has earned a World Champs spot with pure hard work, focus and determination.

I get a funny feeling we may have a few more proud weeks before this year is done.

Time for a moment's reflection

The curtain fell on the 2011-12 domestic track cycling season last weekend at the conclusion of the Age Group Track Championships and it also marked the end of a frenetic period for Cycling Southland.

It has been non-stop since October with seemingly one national or international event after another. From a hugely successful Yunca Junior Tour, through a heart-stopping PowerNet Tour of Southland, record-setting times at the WHK Oceania Track Champs, our full week of racing in the ILT New Year Cycling Series and then the recent Elite and Age Group Track Nationals, it has been one heck of a ride.

At the end of it we have a pile of events which have been a great watch and have produced world-class performances from New Zealand’s increasing number of elite and junior road and track cyclists.

But due to the year-round nature of our sport, there is little time to draw breath and the few short paragraphs above are about all the reflection we have time for. The attention now switches to the road where yet another two major events are looming quickly on the horizon.

This week, our friends at the Wakatipu-Central Otago Cycling club host the Oceania Road Championships. After casting a quick eye across the entry list, I can confidently say this is going to be another fantastic event. The Australians are arriving in big numbers and the start lists boasts an Elite World Track Champion, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and multiple Junior World champions.

Racing starts on Friday with Time Trials for all age categories. Then on Saturday the Under-19 and Elite Women road race titles will be decided while the Under-19, Under-23 and Elite Men medals are handed out on Sunday. The course is based from the Distinction Hotel at Nugget Point and will be run over a circuit just a tick over 25 kilometres. With the ups and downs of Littles Road, long straights through Speargrass Flat, the nasty McIntyre’s Hill and the sweeping bends of Malaghans Road to finish, it is the definition of a championship course.

Then, hard on its heels, the 2012 version of the Vital Signs Tour de Lakes will be held across Central Otago over Easter Weekend. Thanks to the tireless work of Allan Dunn and his able lieutenants this event is always a highlight and it provides our “weekend warriors” with an opportunity to ride a multi-stage, three-day race. Team Dunny is the epitome of Cycling Southland’s fortune of having passionate volunteers who continue to contribute a phenomenal amount to the organisation and its riders.

There’s also the small matter of continuing preparations for the UCI Juniors Track World Championships in August and Invercargill’s hosting of BikeNZ for a pre-World Championship camp which will largely decide who gets to book a plane trip to London in July.

So you can see why we can only allow ourselves a brief look back at the last five or six months, because there’s a lot more where that came from!

How to summarise the Age Group Champs?

Tom Sexton & Grant Toomey

I really struggled to know how to approach this week’s column.

Should I focus on another brilliant team performance by the Cycling Southland squad at the 2012 Age Group Track Nationals? Perhaps I could try and crank up a bit of inter-sport debate on whether Southland’s track cycling domination has ever been replicated by another Southland sports team? I’ve been there and done that over the last two years though.

Maybe I could write about the five successive Points Shield victories and compare that to other great eras in Southland sport?

Perhaps I could single out some of the individual stars - Erin Criglington, Jacqui Dearlove and Bruce Jones’ record breaking deeds or the return or Michael Culling after a good chunk of the last year away from the sport?

I could look at the Under 19s and how Tom Beadle, Liam Aitcheson, Sophie Williamson, Kate Dunlevey and others advanced their chances of gaining Junior Worlds selection. I could easily wax lyrical on the work of their team mates including Tom Vessey, Josh Haggerty, Jenn Muhl and Georgia Timpany in assisting their medal-winning causes.

I could easily discuss the incredible and humbling input we receive from our officials and volunteers. We raced for more than 25 hours over 4 days and our army of volunteers helped deliver the smoothest event you could ever hope to host, all without asking for a thing in return.

I could consider going in to sales mode (wouldn’t be the first time in this column) to drum up ticket sales for Junior Worlds – event passes are on sale now, by the way – comparing the drama we watched unfold over this week to what we can expect from internationals in August.

I was tempted to discuss the incredible talent coming through the ranks and how promising that is for the future. But instead I’m going to let you in on one small story which I think encapsulates all that was great about the week.

Tom Sexton rode his Under 15 Points race heat really well. He got stuck in early and got enough points to look as though he would comfortably qualify. Then he was brought down in a crash eight laps from the finish.

Racing rules allow for a rider to re-enter the race after an incident like this but they have to do so before the last five laps of a race. Sexton, bounced up, ignored the pain and rode the last five laps on basically one leg, after one racing shoe broke and wouldn’t clip back in. He avoided getting lapped by the field (which would have seen him lose his points) and duly made the final.

It epitomized the courage and determination which were hallmarks of the Southland effort. You can’t coach that but Southland’s riders have it and it’s a major reason the squad made it five in a row this week. To every one of our Elite and Age Group squad members go my thanks and congratulations. You performed magnificently and should be very proud. We are.

Something old, something new - 2012 Age Group Champs Preview

Waikato BoP's Hayden McCormick in the Open Madison

Another week, another major cycling event in Southland. This time it is the turn of those track cyclists at either end of the age spectrum to descend on Invercargill for the RaboDirect Age Group National Championships.

214 riders from 11 cycling centres will pedal their hearts out in 105 sprint and endurance events for both teams and individuals over four days, eight sessions and more than 25 hours of racing. 56 sets of medals will be handed out across 11 different age categories; Under 15 Boys and Girls, Under 17 Boys and Girls, Under 19 Boys and Girls, Masters Men (35-44, 45-54, 55+) and Masters Women (35-44, 45+.) Throw in more than 50 event volunteers and 75 team officials and you can get an idea of what a major sporting event the Age Group Champs is.

Competition should be intense, particularly in the Under 19 category with the spectre of the UCI Juniors World Track Championships in Invercargill later in the year looming large. These championships represent the final piece in the selection puzzle for the New Zealand squad. After last year’s record setting performance at the Worlds in Moscow and on the evidence of what we have seen from the class of 2012 at November’s Oceania Championships and the Under 19 Omnium earlier this month, the home country is gearing up for a strong challenge for some of the shiny stuff when the medals are handed out in August.

Southland’s Sophie Williamson and Dylan Kennett of Canterbury both return as two-time defending champions, titles they won last year in their first year as U19 riders last year. Likewise, Southland’s Michael Culling won three golds last year in this first appearance as an Under 17 and he is looking to time his return to the track after an injury-riddled 2011 with a strong showing this week alongside a near capacity and hugely talented bunch of boys. West Coast North Island’s Kate Stewart announced herself as the fastest Under 17 girl in the country 12 months ago at just 15 years of age and also returns as a two-time national champ.

The Under 15 Boys should is also likely to provide some great racing. West Coast North Island’s Campbell Stewart returns to Invercargill with looking to add to the two golds he picked up in 2011, but will face stiff opposition from Southland’s Josh Carpenter and Hamish Beadle among others.

Old riders don’t retire. They turn up every year and smash themselves (and others) at the Age Group Champs. Southland’s Erin Criglington and Jacq Dearlove have been unbeaten in the Masters Women events over the past two years and their times have been world class, up with the fastest recorded for their age groups in the world.

So if you want to get an idea of what this track cycling lark is all about before the world comes to ride in August, come join us from Wednesday to Saturday this week with sessions starting daily at 10am and 6pm at Stadium Southland Velodrome.

Excitement builds for year ahead

London's Olympic Velodrome

If we weren’t excited about Invercargill hosting the 2012 UCI Juniors Track World Championships in August, we are now.

This weekend has seen the first event held at the London Olympic Velodrome and much like our pride and joy in Southland, it has proved to be lightening fast right from the opening gun. World records have fallen and the action and atmosphere has been incredible and that’s what has got us fizzing at the prospect of the year ahead.

April’s World Elite Championships and July’s Olympics will whet our appetites and then the cycling world’s eyes will turn to the Stadium Southland Velodrome. Watching the TV coverage from London via the internet over the past few days has shown the huge lift the Great Britain team has received from a partisan home crowd. Riders like the legendary Sir Chris Hoy, Ben Swift and the GB Team Sprint and Team Pursuit combinations have all been lifted to wins by the packed London supporters. That’s the opportunity we have in August.

The Southlanders in action over the last few days have again distinguished themselves. Natasha Hansen has taken further steps towards the prize of Olympic qualification with new personal bests in the Women’s Sprint and Team Sprint with Otago’s Katie Schofield. Hansen qualified seventh in the Sprint, just 0.3 seconds behind the top qualifier and was desperately unlucky not to make the final eight, with a photo required to separate her and Australia’s Kaarle McCulloch.

That outstanding individual performance came on the back of an eighth place in the Team Sprint on Friday night. The southern pair took 0.3 seconds off their previous best and broke the 34 second barrier for the first time. Most importantly they were significantly ahead of key opponents Venezuela and Colombia who are also battling for Olympic qualification.

Eddie Dawkins continued his hot form from Nationals anchoring the Men’s Team Sprint combination to another new low time of 44.002 on the opening day of competition for fifth overall – just 0.15 seconds off the ride for the medals. Both Hansen and Dawkins were in action overnight in the Women’s Keirin and Men’s Sprint respectively.

Closer to home the final Southland team for the National Age Group Track Championships has been named ahead of the final track event of the domestic season. Whilst the Elite Championships feature the big names, the Age Groups this year take on greater importance with Junior Worlds now just six months away. The top Under 19 talent has one last opportunity to impress the selectors when action starts next Wednesday (29^th) as well as the best Under-17, Under-15 and Masters talents from around the country.

With over 250 riders from around the country it is the perfect dry-run for Junior Worlds – for us as an event organiser and you as a spectator. And as an unashamed bribe we will also be dishing out tickets to the World champs each night of Age Group competition.

So get along and get roaring for the locals. London has shown us the way.

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.

Best in Business Return to South

The best in the business of track cycling are in the south (yet again) this week for the RaboDirect Elite Track Nationals from Saturday to Monday.

Southland has a proud recent record having lifted the National Points Shield as the top Centre in the country in 2008 and successfully repelling all-comers every year since.
My blatant pitch to get you to come for a look isn’t a hard sell because 2012 will be something special for two main reasons.

One is the Olympics. BikeNZ will name its squad to travel to the UCI World Cup in London next month following the Champs. This, by most experts’ estimations, will be a shadow Olympic squad with those selected having a large advantage over their mates when the seats to the Games are dished out.

Much interest surrounds whether the Women’s Sprinters can continue their last minute drive for qualification. Southland’s Natasha Hansen is the corner-stone of their meteoric rise and thanks to the mystical world of UCI and Olympic qualification, they need to rely on results off-shore (most notably Venezeula at the Pan-American Games) to determine whether they get a trip to Mother England in July. All they can control however is going as fast as they can (something Tarsh has excelled at over the last two years) so expect that to continue this weekend.

The Men’s Sprint is just as fascinating. No issues around qualification for the blokes – the only issue is that four doesn’t go in to three. Simon van Velthooven is putting all sorts of pressure on the incumbent Team Sprint combination of Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Southland’s own Eddie Dawkins. Nationals will pit this foursome against each other, with Cycling Southland’s Matt Archibald right in the mix, and the result should be some spectacular viewing.

And just for good measure, the Men’s Endurance racing this weekend will also have a big say in the final make-up of the Men’s Team Pursuit combination. With Jesse Sergent off-shore riding for his Pro-Tour road team and assured of one spot in the four-man squad, it comes down to a battle for the other three places between a host of riders including the experienced Marc Ryan, Sam Bewley, Peter Latham (fresh from individual gold in Beijing), Westley Gough and the young comer Aaron Gate. Again the maths just don’t work and the decision will be one of toughest calls. The winner will be those of us lucky to watch it play out this weekend at the Velodrome.

The other reason this year will hold more interest than usual is the small matter of the UCI Juniors Track World Championships in Southland in August. This weekend’s champs will also feature the Under 19 Men and Women Omniums. Six events all rolled in to one – with the top performers likely to be back south in August, representing their country in front of a home crowd at a World Championship.

High motivation for all of them to perform. High motivation for you to attend.

Slow Start to New Year ... Yeah Right!

The days of slowly working your way back in to the New Year are gone.

Cycling Southland is right in the heart of our most hectic time of the year. In fact it hasn’t really stopped since October. 2012 has begun in outstanding fashion at a representative level with victories for members James Williamson and Nicky Samuels at the Elite Road Nationals along with a top five finish for Kylie Young in the Women’s Time Trial.

Then on Friday night we were all glued to our computer screens following the progress of four Southlanders riding for New Zealand in Beijing at the latest round of the UCI World Cups. The four World Cups are crucial opportunities to gain selection places and qualification points ahead of the World Champs in Melbourne in April and the London Olympics in July. Eddie Dawkins was joined by club-mates Matt Archibald, Cameron Karwowski and Natasha Hansen in the black skin-suit and each staked a claim for World Championship consideration.

Matt broke the 18 second mark for his opening lap in the Men’s Team Sprint on the way to a bronze medal with Eddie while Cam fought illness to also ride his way onto the podium to collect bronze in the Team Pursuit. For Tarsh, it was her first chance to showcase her talents on the world stage and she claimed fifth in the time trial, a very respectable 13th in the Women’s Sprint and 8th in the Team Sprint with Otago’s Katie Schofield. We wait to see whether that will be enough to earn a berth at the next World Cup and World Champs.

Closer to home we witnessed a phenomenal ride by Jeremy Yates to win the inaugural Milford Mountain Classic on Wednesday. With such spectacular surroundings around us, it would be easy to neglect to give Jeremy the credit he deserves for his solo performance. We followed him on his climb to the Homer Tunnel and tried to keep up with him on his descent on the other side. He made both look easy. Check www.cyclingsouth.org.nz/milford to see video and photos from the day.

Our annual ILT New Year Track Carnival at the Velodrome on Friday and Saturday was another huge success and a great hit-out for young and old ahead of the upcoming National Champs. It’s always a joy to watch Pieter Bulling firing on all cylinders and his victory over classy competition in Saturday Night’s Wheel Race Final was impressive. So too Mike Culling who again showed his class in lifting the OJ Memorial Under 17 Wheel Race Trophy for a second time – the first rider ever to achieve that feat.

Mother Nature gave us a day off yesterday with the cancellation of the New Year criterium at Ascot Park Hotel but we’re back in business this evening with the 82nd edition of the Gore to Invercargill Road Classic.

So while you are quietly working your way into 2012, spare us a thought. We in the cycling world aren’t quite so lucky.

Record-breaking week at ILT Velodrome

Somehow, in a few paragraphs in this column, I need to justice to one of the most spectacular sporting spectacles I have had the priviledge of witnessing.

Building up to last week’s WHK Oceania Track Cycling Championships, there was a feeling we could see some great action but we could never have predicted the world class performances that were laid down on the boards of the ILT Velodrome over four incredible days and nights. We watched New Zealand’s elite dish it out to their Australian counterparts all week and lower record after record with apparant ease.

The questions on who will go to London have not fully been answered. BikeNZ now has the unenviable task of sorting through the swag of personal best and NZ record times to work out which combination of riders gives it the best chance of reaching its publicly-stated target of four Olympic medals.

To have seen the Men and Women Team Pursuit combinations go as quick as they did, this early in the season is a wonderful sign. Alison Shanks, Lauren Ellis and Jaime Nielsen went within 0.2 seconds of the world record while Jesse Sergent, Marc Ryan, Sam Bewley and Aaron Gate blew their previous best to pieces and were only 2 seconds shy of the fastest time ever recorded in the world.

The international cycling community has quickly sat up and taken notice. These were the fastest times recorded in these events this year. It’s fair to say, if it wasn’t already, Invercargill has arrived on the world track cycling stage.

Times of this standard are without doubt the best form of advertising we could hope for and it adds yet another selling point to bring riders down under for next year’s Junior World Track Championships. We know Southland will put on a great competition, we know that riders, their families and supporters will be welcomed and looked after like nowhere else in the world. And now we know that world class times will also be registered during competition. We could promote the virtues of bringing the family halfway around the world for the ultimate southern New Zealand experience until the cows came home, but if the perception was we would have a dog of a track which riders would crawl around in sub-zero temperatures then we’d be pushing it up hill. This week we’ll be directly contacting every national federation around the world – and the times from last week’s champs, will be front and centre.

In all the record-breaking feats of last week, one of my finest memories was the performance of Cycling Southland’s Tom Scully. He came within half a lap of the Scratch race title and then powered his way to wins in the Madison and Points races. The finish to the Points race was particularly special – Scully and Aaron Gate going at it pedal stroke for pedal stroke all the way to the line. Tom is one of the good guys and he is back to his very best.

PowerNet Tour a Southland Showcase

Southland was once again thrust into the national spotlight thanks to the tireless efforts of a sporting club delivering New Zealand’s premier cycle race. Last week Cycling Southland hosted the 56th PowerNet Tour of Southland and captured significant exposure for the region in the process.

The event space is challenging right now and it’s hard work in the current economic environment. Considering the amount of prime time television coverage, newspaper inches, internet and radio, the Tour of Southland is a phenomenal promotional opportunity for Southland and one which we try and maximise for the benefit of the region. Sure, it’s about putting a bike race on, but it’s also about doing something for the province.

Again though, it’s the huge logistical challenge the PowerNet Tour presents which strikes me the most. Remember, it is actually an amateur not-for-profit sporting club that delivers this event. Fortunately, we’ve got a great servant in the form of Bruce Ross and his family, together with the huge amount of support we get from volunteers which just can’t be overstated. But it is a massive undertaking. I would understand if volunteers were there for the glory, high profile jobs but the reality is quite different. Scores of people take a week off work or away from families and personal commitments to do the hard yards, away from the spotlight. Their work is invaluable and they are the fabric which holds Cycling Southland and events like the PowerNet Tour all together

The level of support from officials and volunteers continues to grow and hopefully that’s an endorsement on the type of event we run. But it’s nothing you can take for granted and we need to take every opportunity to say an overwhelming thank you.

No rest though, as our attention has switched straight away to the ILT Velodrome for next week’s WHK-sponsored Oceania Track Cycling Championships.

This is going to be some week of racing. As continental championships riders and nations earn vital qualification points for the London Olympics so for New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia, there could not be more motivation. How many and who it is that goes to London could well be decided by what unfolds before us in Invercargill next week.

BikeNZ’s full elite squad will be in action and combined with a strong contingent of Australians these championships represent the best international field the ILT Velodrome has hosted in its five year history. Commonwealth Games champions, Olympic medallists, world champion and world record-holders will all be on the start line. Any wonder we are fizzing at the prospect?

The event also features the first ever Para-Cycling P1 Regional Cup event to be held in this country with riders from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Poland and South Africa all competing with four current world champions among them.

Sessions start next Monday and are held daily through until Thursday from 10:00am and 6:30pm.

So if there was any thought of taking it easy after the biggest week of the year on Tour, think again.