After flying down to Southland which seemed like a long haul to London through the clouds of Mordor with extra turbulence thrown in, we arrived to the first major competition of our run-up to Rio de Janeiro Olympics. With continental titles on the line we knew the racing would be fierce from the Australians so we had to lay everything out there in the Team Sprint, Keirin, Kilometre TT, and the Individual Sprint.
The Central Energy Trust Manawatu Sports Awards recogise the regions top athletes across 10 categories. The event was held at the Arena on Friday evening and BikeManawatu was well represented on stage and supporting in the stands.
Congratulations to the following memebers and their support crew.
Coach of the year – Mike McRedmond (category winner)
Junior Sportswomen – Michaela Drummond (category winner), Elizabeth Stannard (finalist)
Junior Sportsman – Campbell Stewart (category winner), David Martin (finalist), Robert Stannard (finalist)
It was a very enjoyable night hosted by Sport Manawatu, with a highlight for many having wolrd champions Nehe Milner Skudder and Aaron Smith there to recieve their awards and pose for many photos/ selfies.
Click here to read the article in the Manawatu Standard.
The Manawatu Secondary School Sports awards were held at the Awapuni Racecourse on Wednesday evening.
BikeManawatu had many finalists in the cycling and triathlon categories including:
It was a great end to the night for BikeManawatu, with Michaela Drummond (PNGHS) claiming the overall Sports Women of the year after her outstanding year, with her highlight being crowned a world champion in the Team Pursuit and Claiming the World Record at the 2015 Junior World Championships in Kazakhstan. Michaela was also awarded the sports Dux at her school prizegiving at the regent on the same evening.
Campbell Stewart (PNBHS), brought home the Sports Man of the year, with his year highlight being winning the Scratch race and Omnium at the 2015 Junior World Track Championships, also in Astana.
Lizzie and Jaimee further showed the clubs dominance at the school level, claiming major awards alongside Michaela at the PNGHS Sports Prizegiving. Lizzie won Academic and sporting excellence and Jaimee allround sportswomen.
Congratulations to all of our BikeManawatu riders.
We are very fortunate to have Dan Pitchforth, at McDonalds Feilding and Taihape behind track cycling.
At the end of each road bikes on track and track racing each week, a rider will be awarded a Big Mac voucher and a drink bottle.
Get amongst it team!
The West Coast North Island track team competing at the Oceania Track Championships (8-11 October) were all BikeManawatu riders.
A quick overview of results are…
Simon VanVelthoven- Silver in elite Keirin and 1km Time Trial (TT)
Liam Brown- 9th in elite 1km TT, 22nd in sprint qualifying
Joel Yates- 10th in elite 1km TT, 9th in Scratch, 7th in Individual pursuit
Carne groube- Gold in U19 Scratch and bronze in Team Pursuit
Emily Shearman- Gold in U19 Omnium, Points and Team pursuit as part of the NZ development team.
Libby Arbuckle- Bronze in U19 Individual pursuit, 4th overal in Omnium and Gold inTeam Pursuit as part of the NZ development team.
Ruby Perry- 6th in elite scratch race, 6th in Individual pursuit, 10th overall in Omnium
The 2015 Road cycling world champs have been undoubtedly the best cycling experience I have ever had.
After flying into Chiacago and staying for two nights to watch Lizzie race in the Triathlon World Champs, Dad and I drove through the night down to Richmond Virginia where I met up with the Cycling NZ team. We were staying about 5 miles out from the course, so it was a brief ride in every day for riding and a short drive for racing. The NZ team was stacked; we had Greg Henderson, Jesse Sergent, Sam Bewley, Linda Villumsen, Jo Keisanowski, Rushlee Beucannan, James Oram, Dion Smith, Hayden Mcormick, Sam Dobbs, James Fouche, Georgia Catterick, Hannah Gumbley, Mikayla Harvey, and me. We were also lucky to have the help of the USA-based UHC pro racing team mechanics and soigneuers; it felt as though we were true professionals. The German team was also staying at the same place, and that was a highlight on its own, with the likes of Tony Martin, Tom Domoulin, and Andre Gripel.
My first race was the individual time trial, on the 22nd. The 30 km course in Richmond was amazing, incredibly quick, technical and through the inner city streets, the atmosphere bolstered by the massive crowds lining the barriers (even on practice days). The course was two laps of a 15km circuit, heading down the historic Monument Ave, out and back on the paved surface, before a long straight stretch across the river – really quick on the way out and a grind back. The lap was topped off with a quick descent and a short steep climb to the finish. I had 4 days in Richmond before my TT, so plenty of time to adjust to the 30 degree temperature and practice the course.