3.09.16
Click here to view the winter series road race results, including the Essex Cup.
Well done to the 23 riders that took on the Essex Cup challenge today in Pohongina. The winner was our world champ trackie Cam Stewart showing his sprint legs ahead of Jacob Sievwright and Carne Groube. Thanks to our helpers Steve Perry, Rebecca Allan, Catriona Pirie and Mike Groube. We take a break now, round 5 on 2 October. A few more photos.
Saturday 27th August, 2016.
Click here to view the results from today’s Woolworths Cup (winter series race 3). The results from race 2 of the winter series can also be found on this same link.
Great racing by Cam Stewart, Robert Stannard & Chris Denholm to cross the line 1st,2nd & 3rd in testing windy conditions. 15 brave riders turned out to compete for the Woolworths Cup not knowing their pre race handicap. And the Cup winner came from our C grade being Chris Pinkney closely followed by Tom Pirie. Well done Chris, and even better news you have now been promoted to the B grade!!!! Tom will also move up a grade to C after showing good form over the past 2 weeks of racing.
Get ready for the Essex Cup next Saturday – our most challenging Cup race 50kms with 10 kms of gravel – the race will start and finish in Pohongina Village – see you at the village 1pm for registration.
Winter Series Race 2, Saturday 20th August 2016. Huge thanks to Kevin Laskey for organising the race, with 37 riders taking part.
Click here for full results and winner of the Sutton Cup. Woolworths Cup next weekend (27th August) at Halcombe.
Firstly I’d like to thank Bike Manawatu for their contribution which helped me to travel to Australia to compete at the International Track Series in Melbourne as a member of the U19 Track Development Squad. This event involved 4 days of Track Racing at the Darebin Velodrome with a number of countries making last ditch effort for Olympic Selection.
This was an awesome experience with Australia fielding a strong U19 Team also, with their Junior Worlds Team in attendance. The New Zealand squad performed strongly in both the men’s and women’s fields. This week of training and racing clearly set me up well for my road racing the following weekend!
A big thanks must go to Cycling New Zealand for providing this opportunity and in particular to Jon Andrews for the organisation.
Once the racing in Melbourne was over I flew to Canberra arriving 4 days out from competition. After spending a couple of days in Canberra riding around the courses and adjusting to the negative temperatures, John Rippon (the NZ U19 men’s road coach) and 4 other kiwi boys arrived. Much welcomed company after a few days by myself.
I placed a bit of pressure on myself to perform going into all of the races as it was an important stepping stone before I headed to Canada a week after arriving back in NZ. The build-up was going really well so I thought I would have a chance to place quite high. The Aussies are quite well known for aggressive racing and quite big bunches with lots of talented riders so I knew if I wanted to go well I really had to be at my best.
The first event up was the individual time trial on Friday. The course was quite a hilly one which meant it would be impossible to find a rhythm. The conditions were almost perfect. Wasn’t too cold with not a breath of wind. I had high expectations going into this event but was disappointed to only get 16th.
Results Bike Manawatu Handicap Road Race – Ashhurst to Highland Home ( out and back). 4 June 2016.
With a number of riders taking well-earned breaks following the National Championships the previous weekend, the field was smaller than expected for a handicap race on the Halcombe/Stanway circuit last Saturday. Nevertheless, with some good handicapping and some quality riders made for a very competitive race.
The limit riders on the 41 km course (first to go) were Sam Russell, Katherine Stannard, Ben Irvine, Zoe Croton, Jamie Dennis (‘limit’ group). Tom Pirie was next, on his own 4 min later, then a small but strong group of Mike Craine, Chris Pinkney, and Toshi were at 12 min. Angus Claasen and Ethan Craine were given the hardest task, off ‘block’ with Joel Yates, Steve Stannard and James Denholm on scratch (20 min) only 6 min behind. All the groups worked hard, and the race all came together on the last hill on Tokorangi Rd before the descent into Halcombe.
In the end, Joel was just too strong for the rest of the bunch finishing just ahead of Angus in 62 min (average 39 km/h). James was third across the line just a few seconds behind. Three of the younger riders did one lap, with Kyra Craine first home in 69 min, Josh Mulchay 2nd, and Alex Croton 3rd.