Miles Covered During Winter Break

As Cycling Southland sits in the middle of our Winter break between racing seasons it was good to deliver the Southland Secondary Schools Road Championships yesterday at Teretonga. After the record numbers which turned up at our Mountain-bike cousin’s Mid-Winter Enduro on Saturday, Sandy Point was the place to be this weekend.

Even though the weather gods weren’t kind it was good to see the best talent from Dunedin south on the bike and giving it heaps. There were a few tired legs backing up from Enduro, but after it all Southland Girls High School prized the Schools Trophy away from James Hargest College who have had a mortgage on it in recent years. It was a great team effort by Dave Beadle’s charges, especially given they can only enter half the races.

Even though the locals dominated, Otago’s Lachie McGregor and Dunstan’s Tom Vessey both starred and showed they will be strong contenders when the South Island championships are held at Ruapuna in a couple of weeks time.

It wasn’t only the bike riders who covered some miles this week. Cycling Southland President Steve Canny and I travelled to Wellington mid-week to visit the team from SPARC ahead of our hosting of the 2012 World Junior Track Cycling Championships. It brought home the magnitude of what hosting a World Championship means. It is an incredible opportunity for the sport, the ILT Velodrome and our region and we are committed to ensuring we make the most of this opportunity. Next month we will again be promoting Southland on the world stage at the 2011 Champs in Moscow, ensuring that the best in the world will descend on our fine province next year.

Track cycling is one of our highest profile Olympic medal chances next year. The ILT Velodrome will play a key part in New Zealand’s build-up with the Oceania and New Zealand Championships to be held in Invercargill over the next nine months. From there a full squad wearing the black skin-suit will battle for gold around London’s new £93M velodrome and then, just a few short weeks after what we hope will be a significant medal haul, little old Invercargill hosts the Junior Worlds. It makes our rare opportunity even more mouth-watering.

New Zealand is fast-becoming a world championship venue of note. Following this year’s Rugby World Cup, comes our Junior Worlds, the World Triathlon Champs later next year and the World BMX Championships indoors in Vector Arena in 2013. SPARC’s expertise in event planning combined with the experience Cycling Southland has built up over recent years in event delivery give us a huge amount of confidence that the 2012 Junior Worlds will be one of the best ever.

Our trip to Wellington also provided a great chance to do some unplanned inter-sport networking. After the ash-cloud turned our plane around to Christchurch, Steve and I shared a rental car home with Southland Cricket’s Kevin Cooper and his wife, proving every cloud has a silver lining - even ash clouds.

Lifetime of Service Recognised

This weekend saw a southern contingent attend the national BikeNZ Road and Track Annual General Meeting in Auckland.

Although an AGM has many people running (or should I say biking) in the other direction, this weekend represented an opportunity to discuss the key issues facing the sport on a national and local level with representatives from BikeNZ and delegates from cycling centres around the country. As with all get-togethers of this nature, it also provided a forum to share ideas, explore solutions to challenges and continue friendships formed over many years or create new ones.

It also provides the chance to recognise the contribution made to the sport of cycling this year.

On Saturday night our own Graham Sycamore was bestowed the honour of winning the Malayan Cup for 2011. The man we all know as Syccie has contributed a life-time to the sport and Cycling Southland is delighted to see over 50 years of service recognised with the sport’s most prestigious award.

What made the night even more special was that Warwick Dalton was on-hand to make the presentation. Dalton, who often went head-to-head with Graham at Kew Bowl back in the 60s won the Malayan Cup along with his New Zealand team mates in 1957, ironically the very year Syccie took up bike riding.

Very few can tell a story as good as Dalton does and he still looks like he’d be able to handle himself in a sprint finish. He fondly recalled his most recent world championship victory, won in Sydney a few short years ago, which went to a judges’ decision following a protest by one of his beaten competitors. The Chief Judge promptly reported “there was nothing to see,” and Dalton duly won his Masters World title. The judge’s name? G Sycamore, New Zealand.

In true Syccie style the win left him speechless ... yes, of course I’m joking. Once the initial surprise at his name being read out had worn off, he recalled a few of the many highlights of a glittering career. And he was as humble as ever, paying special tribute to those who serve the sport throughout the country and singling out his wife Bernie who Graham confirmed does three-quarters of his work for him.

Every cycling club needs a Graham Sycamore. But only one has one. I’m very thankful it is us.

We also were delighted a host of other Cycling Southland members were recognised at the Volunteer Awards. Local legend Tony Ineson was a finalist in the Lifetime Official category (for ten or more years service) while our Senior Road Convenor Waine Harding featured in the list of finalists for the Newcomer category. The Faces of Cycling awards recognised those who are role models for the sport, both on the bike and as ambassadors. Sequoia Cooper, Gabby Vermunt and our Development Officer Matt Archibald were all nominated.

Nights like this provide another reminder of how fortunate Cycling Southland is to have people of this calibre in our organisation. I thank them all.

Kids These Days Don't Know How Lucky They Are

I thought it would at least another 15 years before I started to say things like, “I remember back when I was at school.”

My glorious days at Wendon Primary School in the 80s were filled with Bull-rush (I still have nightmares about trying to stop Sean Hurley in full flight), rugby (no rippa or touch – only full contact tackle), force-back and, in summer, tip-and-run cricket. To keep on-side with Stu Riordan, I should also point out it provided an excellent educational grounding as well.

Kids these days (another phrase I thought was a decade or two away) have so many options – sporting, culturally and academically. I’m not about to descend into a misty-eyed reminisce about how much better it was in the good ol’ days, tempting as that may be. Instead, I’ll focus on what Cycling Southland is doing to add to these options. We have been part of two initiatives which we’ve kicked off over the last couple of months which I’m really excited about.

The first is a “learn-to-bike” programme which is being delivered with assistance from our mates at Sport Southland via KiwiSport. Along with the Southland Mountain-bike and BMX clubs and Police, we are piloting an eight week programme across seven schools and the results and feedback has been outstanding. Children who have never pedalled a bike in their lives are riding unassisted within the very first session. The beaming faces are truly something very special. Our ultimate aim, once we successfully pilot the programme and tweak it as we go, is to see this rolled out across all of Southland. It’s a great first taste of our sport for local school children and just like swimming, running, jumping and throwing, it is a fundamental skill that we believe all Southland children should master. Plus we might uncover a few new Tom Scullys or Eddie Dawkins in the process.

Secondly, we have successfully added cycling to the NCEA curriculum. Every Year 12 Physical Education class is able to do a “performance” standard and earn credits towards NCEA Level Two. A performance standard is slightly different to other assessments in that students are graded against a national standard of excellence. With a world-class facility at our disposal, a standard based on times recorded at the last five National Age Group Track Championships has been developed, and now cycling is accredited with NZQA as a performance standard.

That means students can attend six weeks of coached sessions during school time at the ILT Velodrome, culminating in a trials day from which students can choose either sprint (500 metre time trials), Endurance (2km Pursuit) or, if they are really keen, both to test their skills, speed and fitness.

Already five schools are visiting us each week and we’d welcome more.

And finally, we start a new series of Ladies Nights for women beginner cyclists next week. We’re hosting three fun and information-filled sessions starting on June 12th. To find out more phone Cycling Southland or visit cyclingsouth.org.nz.

Even though this column hasn’t appeared online for a number of weeks you can rest assured that there has been plenty happening in Cycling Southland’s world since we last spoke.

Whilst this is a quiet time of year in terms of major events, it does present the opportunity to get prepared for what will be a hectic period to end the year.

On Friday we released the revamped route for the 2011 version of the PowerNet Tour of Southland. The feedback has been very positive with club members, supporters, teams and even our Pro-Tour riders immediately sending their support. Greg Henderson told his followers on Twitter that it is the fourth Grand Tour (together with France, Italy & Spain). There are changes to every stage including a Sunday start with the Teams Time Trial around Queens Park, the addition of an epic Te Anau to Crown Terrace stage and the return of the Individual Time Trial on the final morning in Winton.

This will add a new dimension to the race and to schedule it as the penultimate stage (a la Tour de France) means that the general classification may well be decided by “the race of truth” on Saturday November 5th. We also have a number of new plans around the PowerNet Tour including a Legends Dinner, Supporters Tours and the chance for the general public to ride. Another quality field is assured with BikeNZ confirming its Elite squad members will be lining up as a key part of their pre-World Champs/Olympics preparation.

But the PowerNet Tour is just one piece of the puzzle. Another capacity field is set to take its first steps on the ILT Velodrome this week in preparation for the Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit. This is truly one of our favourite events of the year, with the inter-team banter building right up to the July 31st finals day. We’ll be keeping you up to date with their progress heading towards race day.

October’s Yunca Junior Tour of Southland is again shaping up as the country’s biggest junior road tour. Another new route and large interest from across the Tasman means that our age-group limits may well be threatened this year.

Immediately following the Yunca, comes the ILT Junior Track Carnival (October 18-19) which this year also includes the National Elite Omnium Champs. All BikeNZ’s Elite and Development riders will join the best young talent in the country in the first event of the 2011-12 track season.

And then there is the small matter of the Oceania Track Championships in November. With Olympic qualification points up for grabs it is likely that close to full strength Australian and New Zealand squads will line up over what should be four spectacular days and nights of racing. In years gone by we have hosted riders who have gone on to be absolute superstars. Given its timing in the Olympic cycle, November’s Oceanias should be no different.

Check out www.cyclingsouth.org.nz for all the information.

See, told you we’ve been busy.

Corporates Getting Ready to Roll

Last year was filled with many highlights but one of the most memorable was a day in the middle of the year when the ILT Velodrome was packed to the rafters as 34 corporate teams and their respective armies of supporters turned on one of the biggest cycling parties this city has seen.

Cycling Southland’s Harrex Group-sponsored Corporate Pursuit opens its public entries this morning and we’ve got a hard act to follow.

Already the demand has been high – last year’s entrants have been busy putting together their squads in the hope of shaving a second or two of their personal bests – and a lengthy list of newbies who have registered their interest throughout the year will be doing the same from this morning. Now the net is being cast even wider with general entries opening today.

The concept is pretty straight-forward – all you need is a team of six from your business (there does have to be some connection, however tenuous between the team members.) You’ll be coached all the way by some of Cycling Southland’s finest, so no previous experience is necessary. In fact it’s the perfect way to be introduced to the world-class ILT Velodrome if you haven’t been out there and the chance to get a look at what all the fuss about cycling is about.

Is it competitive? For some, of course it is. But for most teams the real focus is having a crack and having a laugh at the same time and, as you could guess, it doesn’t take long for the inter-team banter to reach fever pitch. Plus, if you need to sell it to the boss, you can pitch it as one of those “team-building” exercises – one of the best going around actually.

We introduced over 200 riders to the sport last year. Many have continued in the sport – some going on to represent Southland at the recent Track Nationals. So, it doubles as a decent recruitment and talent identification programme for Cycling Southland.

We will again be building on the party atmosphere on the day. I’ve haven’t yet made it to Wellington for the Rugby Sevens but if you threw a roof on the Cake-Tin I reckon we wouldn’t have been a mile away from it last year. Team supporters really got into it, dressing up (and down), bringing banners and yelling themselves hoarse – and that was only the Waihopai Health Centre supporters! This year the recipe will be the same, just up a few notches.

We have pushed the event back slightly to accommodate netball and basketball commitments so this year’s Grading Time Trial is to be held on Sunday July 24th with the Corporate Pursuit finals a week later on Sunday the 31st.

For all of the event details and to enter visit www.cyclingsouth.org.nz/corporatepursuit or you can text the word bike to 244 (texts cost 20c). Entries close on May 13th so get online or if you have queries contact the Cycling Southland office on 2173215.

Sunday Summarises Our Club

Sunday more or less summarised in a nutshell what Cycling Southland is all about.

It started with a 4am alarm (something for which I am paying for as I write this) to watch Eddie Dawkins line up in the final of the Keirin and Shane Archbold finish strongly to claim silver in the Omnium at the World Track Championships. Big Ed made it through to the last six from a field of 33 – a wonderful achievement and great experience, lining up alongside the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and eventual winner Shane Perkins on the biggest stage of this year.

A lot has been made of the youthful New Zealand sprint programme’s rapid development. When you consider Hoy turned 36 this week, at just 21 years of age, Eddie has a lot of time ahead of him and who knows how many more finals appearances and chances for World Championship and Olympic glory. The same can be said for Tom Scully who rode with Auckland’s Aaron Gate in the Madison overnight. Two young men who have again proved this week that the world is at their feet.

A few hours (and as many coffees) later, I departed for Wyndham, scene of the Southland Road Championships. Provincial titles shouldn’t be easy things to win and let me tell you, those who took medals at this year’s championships deserved them. There was some rain about but it wasn’t until we sent our morning fields on their way that the southerly picked up and the rain got heavier. It turned the day into a war of attrition and in the end the Senior and Under 19 Men’s fields, who had to brave the elements for three hours over their 110 kilometre journey, saw just seven of the 20 starters make it to the finishing tape.

Days like that always confirm to me how committed Cycling Southland’s club riders are. And it meant Wyndham Takeaways did rip-roaring trade in coffee and hot chips (and that was just from me).

That 12 hour period showed all that was wonderful about the sport of cycling in Southland. Elite athletes who have honed their trade at the ILT Velodrome, footing it with the world’s best in the Netherlands, our local club riders punishing themselves on the challenging course with the elements against them supported by a loyal crew of volunteers and officials making it all possible by assisting with the delivery of another safe, well-run cycling event. That’s the nutshell I referred to earlier and it’s great to be a part of it.

This Wednesday the Southland Secondary School Track Championships are being held at the ILT Velodrome with riders from Southland, Central Otago and some northern visitors lining up to ride for their school. James Hargest was able to hold off Southland Boys and Girls Highs last year. Fellow team mates from Southland’s recent dominant performance at the National Age Group Track Nationals become rivals. Should be good sport.

I better go – another early alarm awaits.

Local Focus Switches to Road

On the local front the track cycling season has come to a close and Cycling Southland members’ attention has quickly switched to the road. After months of build-up to the Track Nationals held in Invercargill earlier this month, some will crave time off the bike at this time of year. However the national calendar offers little respite with the RaboDirect Club Road nationals scheduled for Wanganui in early May.

It means that the McLeay Jewellers Southland Road Championships will be held this weekend. Saturday sees a time trial across various distances for 13 separate junior, senior and masters categories at Waianawa while the action moves to Wyndham and Seaward Downs on Sunday for the road races.

It is certainly not an easy turn-around but one talented young lady didn’t let that stop her over the weekend. Alexandra’s Sophie Williamson claimed bronze at the UCI Oceania Road Championships held in Australia on Saturday. She was outstanding at the Track Nationals, claiming three gold medals including the Omnium title where she won five of the six events. To turn around and earn a podium finish against Australasia’s best over the 70 kilometre distance on the road, shows just how bright her future is.

After all this success, it is difficult to remember that 2011 marks Williamson’s first year in the Under 19 grade. She faces a busy year with potential to represent New Zealand at both the Junior Track and Road World championships this year. Although a lot can happen in 18 months, it seems hard not to see her as the cornerstone of the New Zealand squad when the Junior World Track Champs come to Invercargill in August of next year.

This week also saw the New Zealand elite team depart Invercargill’s ILT Velodrome bound for the World Track Champs which start later this week at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. Some tough selection calls had to be made (Wes Gough, Ruhlee Buchanan and Gemma Dudley all missing final team selection) which shows the growing depth Tim Carswell and his team are developing. Cycling Southland will again be well represented with Eddie Dawkins and Tom Scully both lining up in the black skinsuit. The action starts in the early hours of Thursday morning NZ time, with the Mens’ Team Sprint and Team Pursuit medals decided on the opening night. The sprint lads have been setting some lightening quick times in training, while the Team Pursuit combination has welcomed back Jesse Sergent and Sam Bewley from their RadioShack Pro Tour commitments, so hopes are high of a strong showing to kick off the BikeNZ campaign on Thursday.

And to finish, a quick word on our next marquee event of 2011, the Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit. Entries will open soon for one of our most popular and enjoyable events of the year. This year the event is slightly later to accommodate the Steel and Sharks games at the ILT Velodrome and will be held on July 24^th and 31^st. Watch this space.

Southland Domination Complete

Southland’s domination of the RaboDirect National Track Championships was completed on Saturday night. At the end of eight days of Elite and Age Group racing Southland finished atop the National Points Shield leader board. Congratulations to Daylight who was second. For the record Southland finished on 173 points with Auckland the next best on 82. Baseball has the mercy rule, which sees a match called off early when one side gets so far ahead of the other. Should Track Cycling investigate something similar?

I jest of course (sort of). The reality is Southland, on pure numbers alone, should win the Shield. With a world class facility at our back door, there would be problems if we didn’t. The impressive thing for me was the manner in which the win was achieved.

The danger with listing individuals is that worthy names are missed out. Justifiably names like Natasha Hansen, Tom Scully, Matt Archibald, Steph McKenzie, Michael Culling, Sophie Williamson, Jacqui Dearlove, Erin Criglington and Bruce Jones have all grabbed headlines in this fine publication over the last week. Williamson does deserve particular mention. She showed just what a class act she is, winning five of the six Omnium events as a first year Under 19. There’s some future ahead of that young lady.

But, as is so often the case, some great tales lurk under the headlines. The spirit in the camp was epitomised by the story of young Laura Heywood. After featuring in the Southland Times last week, she suffered a nasty crash on the opening night of the Age Group Champs (don’t feel bad about putting the hex on her Nathan). Many of us were surprised (and more than delighted) to see her line up the very next day in the Under 17 Team Pursuit. I watched her come out of the starting gate with what I thought was a determined grimace on her face. Turns out she was being pushed to the brink by the pain coursing through her body from her collar-bone which turned out to be broken. There was no way she wasn’t going to help her team mates and she, along with mates Jen Muhl and Brooke Brazier pushed Auckland all the way and got within half a second of the gold medal - an incredible performance of courage and determination. I don’t know too many 15 year olds who would have done the same.

Nathan Burdon was right on the money in his column on Saturday regarding the volunteers and officials’ contribution to the event. Volunteer hours will push towards 5000 for these Champs. We just couldn’t do it without them and are in their debt, as always.

Like the Southland squad on the track, it’s a good feeling to be a small part of a great team effort to deliver one of the best National Championships. There are no medals or trophies for our volunteers and, aside from Saturday’s column, too little recognition.

We’re going to do our best to change that.

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.