Points Shield Defense Underway

I write this from inside the ILT Velodrome watching some of Cycling Southland’s junior riders put the finishing touches on preparations for this week’s Age Group Track Championships. After three days of Elite Champs, there has been enough action to fill this column many times over.

Natasha Hansen’s absolute domination of the Women’s sprint events has been something to behold. Much has been made of the men’s sprint programme’s development over the last 18 months but Tash has shown that the fairer sex will be joining them sooner rather than later, competing on the world stage.

The BikeNZ sprinters came out to play last night with powerful Southland and Auckland Team Sprint three-somes going at it. Simon van Velthooven and Southland’s Matt Archibald have been trading blows all weekend and have proved a class above the rest, squaring off last night in the Men’s Sprint Final.

The Elite Men’s field may be missing some big names – but one big man loomed large over the event this past weekend. Jason Allen hasn’t had an easy time recently. Even though he rides for Tasman, he is a Christchurch resident. Somehow he was able to put his recent personal turmoil to one side to take out the Individual Pursuit, ahead of Cam Karwowski and then back up on Saturday night to also claim the Scratch race title from another Southland rider, Lee Evans.

The Women’s events have been notable for the total domination of the Points Race on Saturday night by NZ representative Rushlee Buchanan who took three laps on the field to take gold in style. Her battle with Gemma Dudley and Southland’s Sequoia Cooper in the Omnium has been a feature of the championships.

Special mention also to Phillipa Gray and Laura Thompson who lowered the National record in the Para-Cycling Tandem 1000m. Under the tutelage of master coach Nick Harris, their recent development has been rapid and their confidence will have been boosted significantly heading to the World Champs in Italy in a few weeks time.

In many respects the past three days of competition has been something of a dry run for this week’s Age Group Champs when over 220 riders will compete across age categories ranging from Under-15 to Masters 55+.

Southland has taken an early lead in the battle for the National Points Shield. But with another five full days of racing, we are only just getting started.

The Age Group Championships start Tuesday and run through until Saturday. Sessions are to be held daily from 10am and 6.30pm. Tickets are available from Stadium Southland with discounted Seasons and Family Passes available.

You can also follow all of the action with live track-side text commentary, updated as it happens, along with full results, race reports and photos at the Cycling Southland website – cyclingsouth.org.nz.

We are very proud of what our Elite riders have achieved. Now it’s over to our young and not so young riders to keep that shield under lock and key at the ILT Velodrome.

Dawkins Story Latest to Captivate

Rarely a week goes by in the sport of cycling where there isn’t something that captivates you.

This weekend it was an incredible finish to the UCI World Cup Men’s Keirin final featuring our own Eddie Dawkins. Big Eddie was powering to the finish and looking good for the silver medal, behind the legendary Sir Chris Hoy when some carnage behind him brought down all but two of the final field. Despite fighting hard, Dawkins couldn’t stay upright after having his rear wheel clipped and he hit the track hard at 70kph. But you can’t keep a southern man down and he somehow picked himself up and ran (or perhaps more accurately limped), dragging his bike, down the straight to the finish line. Ultimately he was given fifth place, but there is no doubt that in terms of guts and determination, it was a gold-medal winning performance. If you visit www.cyclingsouth.org.nz you can see video footage of the dramatic final stages of the race.

Eddie now has a lot less skin on his right shoulder than when he started the final so it may not be a comfortable flight home, but he has proved why you should be buying your tickets to the National Track Champs which start this Friday in Invercargill. You just never know what will happen.

The performance of the NZ team in Manchester over the past three days has again shown the depth growing at an Elite level and has provided the perfect lead-in to the RaboDirect-sponsored Nationals this week at the ILT Velodrome.

Over 280 riders and over 80 team officials from the 11 cycling centres around New Zealand will descend on Invercargill at week’s end. When you add in family members and supporters you get a sense of the input this event has to the local economy. Here are some more numbers for you; eight days of racing, each with day and evening sessions; 92 national titles to be decided across 14 age groups; over 50 event volunteers per session and close to 4000 volunteer hours to deliver these championships. Makes me tired simply thinking about it.

The Southland team got together on Friday night, to lay out preparations for its defence of the National Points Shield. It is certainly the largest squad we have put together and each of our 75 riders has earned their spot on merit. The more heartening news is that it is also the best-prepared team we have ever put out. There’s a great feeling in the squad and even though there are some high profile names among them, the focus is on team performance. You can look through every age group from juniors to masters to elites and know our province will be well-served.

There’s no doubt home track advantage plays its part and the bigger the crowd and better the atmosphere, the faster they ride.
So that’s where we all come in. Grab your tickets. If you don’t, as Eddie again proved yesterday morning, you will more than likely miss something special.

Points Shield Defense Looms

The largest ever Southland track cycling team was last  announced to defend the National Points Shield at the RaboDirect National Track Championships at Invercargill’s ILT Velodrome later this month.

A total of 76 riders will wear the Southland skinsuit over the Elite and Age Group Championships, each looking to help the host centre retain the symbol of regional track cycling supremacy. The country’s 11 Cycling Centres suit up with points awarded to each Centre for the top three riders in each event over the eight days of competition.

Last year Southland wiped the board registering a total of 110 points from Auckland (61) and Canterbury (42). This prompted some new upstart CEO to claim it one of the most dominant Southland sporting performances of all time (incidentally I still stand by that).

Although final entries close today, word from further north is that those big centres have had enough of the southerners’ domination and are bring large contingents south. So this is something of a call-to-arms to get along to the ILT Velodrome and give the hometown heroes your support.

The Elite Champs run from Friday February 25th to 27th with sessions starting at 11am and 6.30pm while the Age Group Champs run from March 1st to 5th with daily action starting from 10am and 6.30pm.
Tickets are on sale now at Stadium Southland – adult prices are $10 for evenings and $5 for day sessions while kids are free. Plus there are discounted family and season passes available. Short story is ... it’s as cheap as chips.

To deliver an event like this takes the definition of a team effort. Our riders, coaches, team officials and event staff and volunteers have prepared well. Now all that’s left is a little fine-tuning over the next fortnight before the campaign for the Points Shield defence begins.

I hope you can give us a hand too.

The Southland squad is:

U 15 : Madeleine Gough, Makayla Smith, Bronwyn Graham, Josh Carpenter, Liam Haggerty, Hamish Beadle, Hayden Strong , Tom Sexton.

U 17 : Laura Heywood, Jennifer Muhl, Brooke Brazier, Libby Bayne, Michael Culling, Josh Haggerty, Jeremy Presbury, Liam Aitcheson, Nick Kergozou.

U 19 : Sophie Williamson, Kelsey Timpany, Sarah Tomlinson, Kate Dunlevey, Paigan Marshall, Georgia Timpany, Stephanie Mckenzie, Pieter Bulling, Tom Beadle, Jamie Culling , Marcel Baird , Paddy Daly, Ethan Thwaites, Tom Dawkins, Matt Zenovich, Chris Sexton.

Masters Men 3: Peter Grandiek, Ray Robinson, Bruce Jones, Colin Horton.

Masters Men 2: Richard Eade, Neil Jamieson, Wally Kopae, Neil Familton, Sier Vermunt, Ant Leathart, Roger Nicholas, Grant Toomey, Simon Lusk.

Masters Men 1: Michael White, Jerard Stock, Garry Smith, Derek Tan, Andrew Lienert.

Masters Women 1: Erin Criglington, Kylea Gough.

Masters Women 2: Marie Muhl, Sandra Kopae, Jac Dearlove.

Para-Cyclists: Phillipa Gray/Laura Thompson.

Elite Women: Sequoia Cooper, Dale Tye, Natasha Hansen, Kylie Young, Emma Gibb, Gabby Vermunt, Rebecca O’Donnell.

Elite Men: Tom Scully, Eddie Dawkins, Cameron Karwowski, Matt Archibald, Hamish Tomlinson, Lee Evans, Brehan Cairns, Dillon Bennett, Sean Fox, Matt Dodds, Karl Watson.

ILT Velodrome Future Assured

BikeNZ has this week reaffirmed its future support of the ILT Velodrome.

Cycling Southland Chief Executive Nick Jeffrey confirmed that he has received positive feedback from both SPARC and BikeNZ following formal notification that Southland would not submit a bid to host a National Cycling Centre of Excellence in Invercargill.

"We wanted to make clear that whilst we have no intention of committing significant local funds to further developing an already world class facility like the ILT Velodrome to fit the classification required by SPARC, we do wish to continue to play a significant role from both an events and training perspective in the future," Jeffrey said.

He and Stadium Southland General Manager Nigel Skelt co-signed a letter to the national organisations overseeing the Cycling Centre of Excellence tendering process on behalf of the Bike Southland consortium, which also included the Southland Mountain-bike and BMX Clubs and Sport Southland.

"We believed it was important to formally register our future aspirations. There can be no debate about what the ILT Velodrome has done for the sport of track cycling in New Zealand. We are now a world power. We are pretty proud of the contribution we have made to the High Performance end of the sport. I'm delighted BikeNZ have recognised that in their reply and re-emphasised the key role the ILT Velodrome will play in the future," Jeffrey said.

"We also left the door open for discussions, should a successful tenderer not be forthcoming or if a less financially-straining solution was sought," he said with a smile. "Anything we can do to help."

Jeffrey believes a number of positives have come out of the process.

"Obviously the recognition on the support we have given in the past is pleasing, but it's also got a great group of people together. Dave Brookland (MTB) and Ginge Burnett (BMX) have added a huge amount over the last few months and there are some exciting things ahead for all of the bike codes in terms of facility development, programmes and events through closer collaboration."

"Plus it has been a timely reminder that Cycling Southland and the ILT Velodrome's top priority must be serving and developing our grass-roots membership. Our facility and activities have been developed for Southlanders first and foremost. A wonderful by-product of what we have in the south, in terms of facility and people, is that we have been able to play a role on a national or, in the case of the 2012 Junior World Track Championships, international scale. But one should follow the other. If we go out chasing the national and international glory stuff then we have our priorities a little out of whack."

BikeNZ's High Performance squad has been again put through its paces this week at the ILT Velodrome. The team departs for the final UCI World Cup in Manchester this weekend before returning south in time for the RaboDirect National Elite and Age Group Championships from February 25th.

A copy of the Bike Southland letter can be found by clicking here.

Next Stop National Champs

Another full week for the southern cycling fraternity as Cycling Southland hosted the annual McLeay Jewellers Southland Track Champs. Close on one hundred riders from Southland and Central Otago, along with some travellers from points further north, made the ILT Velodrome their home over three days this week, looking to impress selectors and build up to the National Track Championships at the end of next month.

Naturally there were some stand-out performers from familiar names who are making their presence felt on the national stage; Piet Bulling, Matt Archibald, Steph McKenzie, Sophie Williamson, Michael Culling, Tom Beadle, Sequoia Cooper, Kylie Young, Lee Evans - all talented athletes with wonderful careers ahead of them.

There were also other names added to that list. Laura Heywood would have to go close to being the star turn of the week. Having only taken up the sport little more than 18 months ago, she is showing massive potential and is unquestionably one to watch.

Some of the best results (as usual) came from our Masters categories. I have written before about the growth of our sport amongst the age-group loosely described as middle-aged. If you wanted proof, the Southland Champs provided it. Michael White, Erin Criglinton, Jacq Dearlove, Neil Familton, Richard Eade, Simon Lusk and the ever-green Ray Robinson all had gold (or in many cases golds) draped around their necks. Our Masters cyclists are one of the major reasons the National Points Shield has been under lock and key at the ILT Velodrome for the last three years. Watching the action on the weekend, our “more mature” riders will again be Southland’s trump card in 2011.

And of course there were other great stories; Peter Grandiek, competing at 79 years of age and off to do the same at the Masters Games in Wanganui over coming weeks. And little Madeleine Gough was doing the same at the age of just 10. Any sport that features a 69 year span between its youngest and oldest competitor must be in great heart.

We were also blessed to host some of the country’s top Para-Cyclists, building up for their tilt at medals at the World Champs in Italy in March. Their efforts are truly inspiring but it is obvious they are not just content with their significant victory in simply making it to the start-line. They are focused on performance and on winning.

With such a wealth of talent, it is likely the selectors will this week name the largest ever squad to compete at the upcoming Nationals. The RaboDirect-sponsored Elite Champs, which will also include Southland’s national representatives Eddie Dawkins, Tom Scully, Natasha Hansen and Cameron Karwowski, run from February 25th to 27th. We then have a solitary day off before we get straight into the Age Group Champs from March 1st to 5th.

And to finish the week, a quick congratulations to Cam Karwowski and Hamish Tomlinson for their top 20 finishes at the Tour of Wellington - brilliant efforts in a tough event.

Nick Jeffrey is Chief Executive of Cycling Southland

Frenetic Start to New Cycling Year

The cycling year has begun and what a frenetic start it has been. Cycling Southland’s ILT New Year Cycling Series featured the country’s elite cyclists lining up alongside local Club and representative riders in road, track and criterium racing and BikeNZ’s High Performance programme hosted its largest ever track training camp – 31 riders in total were smashed by their coaches on a daily basis at the ILT Velodrome. Throw in Saturday’s headlines regarding SPARC’s proposal to site a National Cycling Centre somewhere in the country, this week’s upcoming Southland Track Champs, our hosting of the National Champs from late next month and the small matter of planning for the year ahead and Junior Worlds next year ... let’s just say we have found enough to keep us busy over the last couple of weeks.

Brilliant news came out of the Beijing World Cup over the weekend. Tom Scully’s international comeback is complete with his fourth place finish in the Omnium. There are no easy events at that level but the Omnium is one of the most demanding - six events contested over two days for which riders earn points which are totalled at the end to decide the winner. Our boy “Scud” was ultra-consistent with five top-10 finishes, including a win in the Elimination Race.

His faultless and focused return from what could (and possibly should) have been a crippling injury was unquestionably one of the sporting comebacks of 2010. From the moment Tom wrapped his leg around an Irish power pole in the middle of last year, he set his sights on getting back to competing on the international scene. To see all his hard work, determination and will pay off over the weekend was outstanding. It would also be remiss not to mention a top Northern Southland lad by the name of Mark Hollands, who is the unsung hero of the Scully comeback. His watchful eye and guidance during Tom’s rehabilitation played a massive part in its success. Their combined efforts mean one of the south’s true sporting champions is ready to rip in to his biggest year ever.

Off the bike, yesterday a Sunday newspaper reported that eight centres have expressed an interest in hosting a National Cycling Centre of Excellence. While the process, the politics and the possible outcomes could fill any number of columns, one thing has been made abundantly clear to me. The foresight of those involved in designing and building the ILT Velodrome last decade cannot be overstated. Southland would not be able to afford to build the quality facility we can now all enjoy, were the concept being floated for the first time today. No matter what decision SPARC makes, or how many velodromes are built around the countryside, thanks to that visionary group, Southlanders will always have something world class at our back door. Then it’s over to us to make sure that even if we don’t have the country’s only indoor velodrome, we continue to have the best one.

2010 Filled With Highlights

The time for misty-eyed reflection on another year has arrived. 2010 was my first in the cycling world and was filled with memorable moments. Here is an incomplete list of personal highlights:

February – Two weeks before I started my new role at Cycling Southland, watching my first live track cycling event I watched Eddie Dawkins and friends lower the national Team Sprint record at the Elite Track Nationals. I still get that tingly feeling remembering it today - an incredible experience to watch in the flesh. Big Ed, Sam Webster and Ethan Mitchell have since lowered that mark a number of times, the latest on Thursday night in winning bronze at the World Cup in Colombia to cap an incredible year. Expect more in 2011.

March – Erin Criglington, flanked by Sophie McMurdo and Michael Culling, lifts the National Points Shield following the Age Group/Masters Track Nationals as Southland blows away the competition to again confirm its place as the premier track cycling province.

June – Tom Scully crashes out of the Tour of Ireland, ending his Commonwealth Games hopes. The injury makes no highlight reel, but the way this level-headed young man has bounced back does. It’s a credit to his support team, his family and the man himself how he immediately focused on getting back to his best. No woe-is-me, just total focus and dedication.

June - The Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit saw 200+ riders take on the ILT Velodrome and living to tell the tale. The final was spectacular, YMCA Education pipping the Police Five-0s to close a hugely enjoyable event.

August – Pieter Bulling represents his country and Cycling Southland with distinction at the World Junior Track Champs. His stellar year only got better, culminating in his selection for the BikeNZ Elite squad for this month’s Melbourne World Cup - an incredible year for a fantastic talent.

November – The PowerNet Tour of Southland went right to the wire, being decided in the final sprint to the Stage Nine finish line on Gala Street. Hayden Roulston claimed another PowerNet Tour by the narrowest margin in history, but it was an incredible stage finish earlier in the week which sticks in my memory. Watching 100-plus riders, ten-wide with a tail-wind, descending on the finish line in Tuatapere at 70 km/h will stick with me for a long, long time.

December – Eddie Dawkins called it the greatest race on the ILT Velodrome. In the end technology could not separate the big guy and his good mate Simon van Velthooven on the line in the Elite Men’s Sprint at the ILT Festival of Speed this month. The dead heat will be one of those moments that goes down in Cycling Southland folklore. We saw two supreme athletes putting on something special for a jam-packed crowd. No script-writer could have done a better job.

In closing a special thank you to all of those involved in our sport throughout the year. Your unwavering work and support is hugely appreciated. Merry Christmas.

Festival of Speed Satisfies

What a week. Cycling Southland's ILT Festival of Speed ended on Thursday night, capping three incredible night's racing. Our aim was to showcase elite track cycling as a sporting and entertainment spectacular in our world class facility. The hundreds of Southlanders who took their seats at the ILT Velodrome last week are in a far better position to comment than I, but we're pretty satisfied with the end result.


A huge amount of work went into the event and to get the support we received from the Southland public was fantastic. As always, we are indebted to both the Invercargill Licensing Trust and the ILT Foundation for their on-going and unwavering support and for the assistance of BikeNZ and its High Performance Programme.

The feedback from the riders was outstanding. They loved every minute of it and loved the atmosphere, which they see regularly in the US and Europe and can now enjoy here at home. The more they enjoy the event, the better the racing is and the better the spectacle is for the crowd. At this time of year most riders are focused on registering times, or on making teams, so to give them three nights where they can have some fun, put on a show and enjoy the racing is important.

We're also really heartened by the feedback from our international riders who have raved about the ILT Velodrome and to hear BikeNZ Track Coach Tim Carswell say Tuesday night's Madison was in his eyes the greatest field ever assembled is pretty staggering.

It's vital we put New Zealand on the world track cycling map with a view to our hosting of the Junior World Track Championships in 2012. I think we've raised the bar a fair bit, but we won't leave it there. The challenge for us is to take more steps up through 2011, starting with our New Year Carnival on January 15th and 16th.

We capped last week with our end of year prize-giving evening on Friday. After watching the country’s best compete with international riders during the week, it made perfect sense to also recognise our top Club performances during the year in the same week.

We also introduced three new awards for Contribution to Junior, Senior and Masters Cycling. So often the focus is on those who cross the line first. These three awards are designed to recognise the huge numbers who contribute so much to our organisation through the year.

And we have made a point to award these in the name of some gentlemen who themselves have given lifetimes of service to Cycling Southland. We are delighted to advise the inaugural winners of the Laurie Tall Cup for Overall Contribution to Junior cycling was Dave Beadle. Waine Harding claimed the Tony Ineson Cup for his contribution to senior cycling and Erin Criglington was the first name etched on the Peter Grandiek Cup for her services to masters cycling.

My personal thanks to each for their outstanding and invaluable work.

Forecast for Extreme Speed

The forecast for Southland this week is extreme speed. The ILT Festival of Speed begins tomorrow night headlined by New Zealand’s leading endurance and sprint men and women, along with international riders from Australia, the Pacific and Europe.


The New Zealand team fresh from winning a full set of medals at the Melbourne World Cup rolled into town last night. It is an arduous pre-Christmas schedule for the squad with Oceanias and two World Cups in the space of five weeks but with each outing the BikeNZ squad continues to impress.

Shane Archbold’s incredible effort in winning the Omnium in Melbourne (cycling’s equivalent of the decathlon) stamps his name as one to watch this week - his mullet also makes him hard to miss. The phenomenal silver medal-winning ride from Aaron Gate and Myron Simpson in the Madison on Thursday night means they will start as short-priced favourite in tomorrow night’s RaboDirect Madison Champs while the Team Sprint combination of Eddie Dawkins, Sam Webster and Ethan Mitchell will go head-to-head in our sprint competition – a mouth-watering prospect for those of us taking a seat at the ILT Velodrome.

We are delighted to also feature international talent from all over the globe. The Swiss combination of Gregory Hugentobler and Cyrille Thiery arrive fresh from Melbourne while Jerry Bousquet & Mike Michel-Villaz add to the Euro flavour, riding under the French flag from New Caledonia. And then comes the Aussie contingent. Despite clashing with the Australian Madison Champs on Friday the green and gold will be well represented with Tasmanian flyer Clay Murfet and former Trexlertown Riders of the Year Doug Repacholi and Laura McCaughey. They will be joined by impressive Institute of Sport sprinters Tim McMillan, Jamie Green and Zac Deller in the men’s field and Cassandra Kell and Madison Law in the women’s. The raw power of these young Aussie sprinters was one of the talking points from our riders returning from the Oceania Champs. To see them first hand will be yet another treat.
So all is in readiness. The entertainment including Stunt BMX rider Paul Langlands and friends, our live bands The Heartleys and Lipstick, celebrity racers and our large swag of prizes is all ready. All you need to do is turn up. Tickets for the ILT Festival of Speed and for our Thursday morning Gold Medal Breakfast with Ali Shanks are on sale at Stadium Southland.

Southlanders Impress at Oceania Champs

Another weekend passes with more outstanding performances by Southland cyclists on the international scene. It’s early in the track season and for many of our elite athletes the Oceania Championships which ended over the weekend in Adelaide was the start of a long season which they hope will end with success next March at the World Championships in Holland.


For others it was a chance to send a message to the BikeNZ High Performance Programme that theirs is a name to consider. That’s exactly what Pieter Bulling has done. He raised eyebrows for all the right reasons as he trained with the squad at the ILT Velodrome over the past fortnight. Then, when the decision was made to give Tom Scully more time on his comeback from injury, Piet delivered the perfect example of taking one’s opportunity by lighting it up in Adelaide to claim a spot in the Elite team for the Melbourne World Cup starting Thursday. This is one young man going places and I’m told he is leaving many more experienced members of the squad in his wake.

I am also particularly delighted with Tom Beadle’s effort to claim silver in the U19 Keirin, a matching pair of medals after his second-place finish in the U19 Team Sprint on opening night. Tom is another prodigious talent to roll off the Cycling Southland production line and we will watch his age group with particular interest over the next 18 months as they will wear the black skin-suit when the Junior World Champs are staged in Invercargill in 2012.

Our Development Officer Matt Archibald got his first taste of international competition over these championships and finished his debut campaign by leading out his three-some to fifth place in Saturday’s Team Sprint qualifications. Matt has only been in the sport for a handful off years but has a work ethic and raw power which guarantees his choice to change his oars for a bike was a wise one.
The most exciting news is that all of the guys and girls who starred at the Oceanias along with the full BikeNZ Elite and Development squads and internationals will be lining up in the ILT International Festival of Speed next week.
We’ve had a lot of fun putting this event together because it has been about a lot more than track cycling. Our entertainment includes stunt BMX rider Paul Langlands and friends. Having seen video online of this guy, I can’t wait to see what he and his mates deliver next week. We’ve got live music from The Heartleys and Lipstick to complement the adrenaline pumping track cycling.

Yes, I’m biased. But if you have never been to a cycling event before, this is the one to come to. $20 gets the whole family in for two or three hours of awesome entertainment. And if that’s not enough we’ll offer an unashamed bribe by putting you in the draw to win a weekend to Adelaide in January. Sold? I sure am.