Reloaded, ready.
February already, waste of time asking where the first part of 2020 has gone when we look around the result pages of the out of town racing that has taken place in January.
Lets start with our local Trackies, both young and old(er) that have risen to greater heights under a well organised committee at Bike Manawatu Track Cycling.
Harrison Craw, Kylah Gunn have led the charge as Great Role models with both of them setting new records at the Feilding track.
Racing continues at the Feilding Track on Wednesday nights all of February.
At meetings out of town…as a group, they have dominated, simply as that. We should be, and are, very proud of them.
Most are off to Invercargill for Age Group Track Nationals in the first weekend of March so keep an eye out for some great results.
Track racing is Tough, and couldn’t happen without the amazing volunteers and parents, many thanks to them.
Recent U23 and Elite track nationals at Cambridge featured Michael Richmond, Ewen Cousins, Jordan Castle, Carne Groube, Jordan Kerby, and Campbell Stewart cementing their place in National pecking order. It’s a tough game.
On (and off) the tarmac.
One of the big reasons Bike Manawatu has a break during January with road events is because of the multitude of racing that takes place with in close proximity to our region.
While I was researching some of these it made me very aware of how active we are as BM members. With that in mind, if you are out of town and have a result in any of your events, please email the link with a few photos and an article to Keryn. Keryn will add it to our Website, and Vaughan will pick it up for the Newsletter.
Here’s some brief results, and kudos to our members who were out doin it in the January heat…and the Bl…y Wind.
Hawkes Bay Tour.10-12th Jan
B grade Kyle Hoskin 3rd, Glenn Kirk 4th in GC
C grade Chris Pinkney 14th, Philipp Vranek 15th in GC
D grade Marcus Fellowes 1st, Warren Mumby 4th, Joshua Mulcahy 5th, Tyler Mumby 8th, Jackson Fellowes 11th, Mike Dunne 13th, Mike Thompson 16th with a guts ache, Graeme Bull 18th,Andrew Richardson 21st in GC
Tour de Beautiful .19th Jan
55km…..Wayne Fage 1st, Cheryl Christie 6th, Sue Hoskin 26th.
100km….Dale Nicholls 22nd, Chris Pinkney 28th, Phil Devlin 29th, Michelle Turner 35th, Stephen Nagy 36th, Rob Ryan 37th, Carol Webb 39th, Graeme Nicholls 40th, Alan Montgomery 41st, Alex Montgomery 47th.
NZ Cycle Classic. UCI event. 17th -19th Jan.
Future looks great for NZ teams competing internationally with Black Spoke and NZ National teams 1-2 and the end of the 5 stages.
85 riders completed the 5 stages, many DNF’s (20) as you’d expect. The 85 finishers were covered by just over at the end of the event.
Campbell led the charge with a couple of sprint wins. Dylan Simpson, Carne, Luke Mudgway all made their presence felt. Current Kairanga ITT record holder Glenn Haden was the best from our region with 33rg, 3.37 off GC lead.
Hayden McCormick was 3rd in GC…setting up a big push for the next weekend which was..
Gravel and Tar. UCI Event 25th Jan.
No introduction necessary . Brain Child of Steve Stannard, assisted by Bob Seldon and a huge bunch of volunteers and helpers.
Kicking off with a Criterium around the Railway land on the Friday night when the UCI Womens race stretched the legs out before their race the next day.
Before this race our Juniors had the opportunity to race on the same circuit. Massive commitment by the PNCC council and Greasy Chain trust to get this criterium across the line.
Three events on the same day . First to leave was the Slicks and Stones, open to all riders. 118kms of hardship 32 starters . It’s tough but extremely rewarding.
Jack Pronk ran away with it , Richard Day 5th, Jamie Dennis 7th, Cliff Hughes 12th, Chris Pinkney 13th, Darren Murdie 14th, Josh Mulcahy 16th, Mike Craine 17th, James Buchanan 19th, Dale Nicholls 22nd, Mike Dunne 25th, Georgia Simpson 28th.
Special Mention has to go to Josh and Georgia, both year 10/11 at school entering possibly the toughest one day event on the calendar.
Womens UCI race. Gravel and Tar La Femme
Same length and Slicks and Stones.30 young women took the start with riders from NZ, Australia, Switzerland, GBR, but it was the NZ women’s team who came home with a 1-2.
Niamh Fisher-Black leading home Samara Sheppard with Australian Ella Bloor coming home 1.23 behind Samara.
This wasn’t quite enough for the New Zealand team to get overall teams, missing out to Green Monkey Specialized Womens Racing by 57 seconds.
Local Team Tank Guy/Bike Box was third in overall teams classification.
Lizzy Stannard was the best of the “locals” with 7th overall and Libby Arbuckle 22nd.
Mens Gravel and Tar UCI.
133kms of mayhem. 59 Riders were led away From Rosebowl Bakery with riders from NZ, Australia, Taiwan, Sweden, GBR, France, Guatemala, Singapore,
Hayden McCormack broke away early and was never headed off. Past memories of late punctures whilst in contention for overall honours probably spurred him on to making a good gap which he maintained till the end.
3.23 minutes to 2019 winner Luke Mudgeway with “local” Joel Yates coming in 4th to make it 4 kiwis in the top 5. The main peloton featured riders from 8th -15th 6.30 off the winner.
Solid performances from Max Taylor, Madi Hartley-Brown, Dylan Simpson, Sam Gardner, and Winston Briggs who showed the PNBHS courage that the staff there drill into their pupils…never , ever, give up.
Black Spoke took out the teams classification easily.
Taranaki Cycle Challenge.25th Jan
Such is the scramble to fit dates in around UCI events and regional iconic races that BDO Taranaki Cycle challenge fell on the same day as the Slicks and Stones.
Glenn Kirk and Ian Eagle combined to win the relay section of the challenge.
Seems to be an annual pilgrimage for the riders from Auckland and Waikato to compete in…shame about the date clash but that’s January for you.
Now It’s everyone’s turn.
Bike Manawatu is starting off its’ road racing calendar this Sunday 9th February with the Cheltenham Cup starting in …Cheltenham. – Click Here to register
This is a graded handicap race heading out towards Kimbolton and back. Fantastic course with the well renowned long downhill to the finish.
Then every Tuesday from 11th to 25th inclusively is the Palmfeild Motors Flat Track road series. Using the Taonui Loop, Akers Road, Then back to Taonui Loop for the final round.
Bike Manawatu members thoroughly enjoyed this form of racing last year and we are set to continue this type of racing as the year goes on.
We as a club are here to encourage all abilities, Male and Female to race competitively at their chosen level. Whatever level you see yourselves at, with more numbers we can accommodate.
Rob Ryan at Palmfeilds has witnessed this and has sponsored this series. If you do the first 2 races the last race is free.
To make it Five races in 14 days…(We must be crazy) The BM Road Racing Championships are on February 23rd using the Colyton, Hiwinui Course. – Click here to register
All details are on Facebook and the Website.
Prepaid cards for race entry are available. Our races are $5.00 entry , we can alter the prepaid card to suit you with the “Maximum” of $50 prepaid.
Just a couple of points..these events cannot happen without many volunteers, a lot of Admin and a bunch of very special sponsors.
We will be announcing our full list of Sponsors next week.
We have attracted more Sponsors at all levels, changed Kit supplier, have more events running with more specific events leading up to Age Group Nationals on April
ITT’s are back in March.
WCNI Road Race Championship end of March.
Novice Tour in it’s 47th Consecutive year on March 21 and 22nd. Register Here
Will be great to see as many as possible to Volunteer, Race, Assist, Compete…It’s important, It’s healthy, It’s fun
Tim