Another pilgrimage to Invercargill for Oceania Track Cycling Champs and before that the first ever UCI Tier 1 event held in New Zealand.
Olivia Podmore and Holly Edmondston were riding for NZ in the U19 Woman's grade and Andrew Ward and Mitchell Podmore were riding for Canterbury.
Despite being a regular on the top step of the podium at Nationals over the last three years it was the first time Olivia has worn the NZ colours in competition and she showed the hard work that has gone on over that time winning 4 Gold Medals taking out the 500m TT (PB), Team Sprint (PB for standing lap), Sprint (PB in flying 200m) and Keirin despite being boxed in at the bell.
Holly was part of a Teams Pursuit that were first U19 women and established a New Zealand record for the 4000m 4 rider format. Andrew continued to develop his Keirin racing with solid rides at the Tier 1 and Ocea's. Work is still needed on his Kilo and Flying 200m. Mitchell learned about the need for a big aerobic base mixing with top Elite riders from Australia and NZ in the Scratch, Points and Madison.
Now we go back to building more base, strength for Olivia and Andrew, and miles for Mitchell and Holly.
Pushing Liz Steel into the flying lap round of Omnium
Liv after her U19 Woman's Sprint Win
Calling lap times for Mitchell
Holly riding the IP.
Holly riding the flying 200m in Sprints
Liv on the Podium winning U19 Woman's Sprints
Throwing Liz Steel into the Scratch Race round of Omnium
Giving instructions to a NZ composite U19W Teams Pursuit
Maddi's sadly flu affected road race power file and GPS. Shows the severity of the course and her power was down from what we know she was capable of.
WORLD MASTERS TRACK CHAMPS
Harri Rajaniemi placed 6th in the 40-44 750m TT and 7th in the Match Sprints.
CANTERBURY TRACK CYCLING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
The track season has started at Denton Park and we have also started the Development Programme for Junior Cyclists to get started in the sport. I have led this programme for several years (and also in 1993) and it is a great fun watching riders come through and many like Olivia Podmore and Christine Lambley go on to become National Champions!
BIKE NZ LEVEL 1 TRACK COACHING COURSE
Have been contracted by BikeNZ to deliver content on coaching, track cycling physiology and track riding technique up in Te Awamutu on the 19-20th of October. I did the level 1 course myself in 1995 and the level 2 in Sydney in 1997. I taught numerous level 0 courses and a couple of level 1 course back then. It is great to be back delivering information to new coaches!
Jamie Nicoll finished an excellent 6th in this multi day Enduro event in France. He now heads to Italy for the final round of the Enduro World Series.
YUNCA JUNIOR TOUR OF SOUTHLAND
Christine Lambley 2nd in U15 Girls on GC. Olivia Podmore won the Sprint Ace in U17 Girls. Holly Edmondston 5th in U19 Women on GC and 2nd in Sprint Ace. Lucy Timmings 3rd in U19 Sprint Ace.
SOUTHLAND JUNIOR TRACK CARNIVAL
Some top class racing. Olivia won the Invitational Women's Keirin and was part of a NZ squad that beat the Australians in an Italian Pursuit. Holly was dominant in the U19's women's racing. Was down in Invercargill on behalf of Canterbury Track Cycling so ran a session to bring everyone up to speed and then provided support to all Canterbury riders while the racing was going on.
This is one of Australia's biggest and historical single day races and is now part of the Australian NRS. It was a main target for Sam Horgan and having never raced for 7 hours before required some extra planning and nutritional guidance. Sam took his good form from winning the Benchmark Series and Great South Coast Tour and his preparation and converted potential into a HUGE VICTORY!!!
It was also a great success for the Budget Forklifts teams demolishing the top class field to take a never achieved before 1-2-3 in the event.
Maddi Campbell joined a positive and ambitious NZ team in Italy for 2013 World Road Cycling Championships. The NZ team came home with one Silver Medal thanks to Linda Villumsen in Elite Women's TT. Maddi rode the U19 women's ITT and Road Race. We had prepared for the savage hilly road race so the TT was an opportunity to get the competing at a Worlds drama out of the way and Maddi was very happy with her ride.
Unfortunately the day after she started to feel unwell and by the day before the road race she had a full-on flu and was even unsure of starting. She did start and didn't achieve the desired result being withdrawn coming through the bell after the time limit with fellow Kiwi Devon Hiley. She was gutted but resolute that she can perform at this level and will benefit from experiencing World Championship level racing and cheering the Kiwi Elite riders on in their races.
Accreditation, numbers and skinsuit. Ready to go!
Individual TT
Front row thanks to Sophie Williamson's 4th last year in Holland.
On one of the never ending climbs in the race.
NZ SCHOOLS CYCLING CHAMPS
U16 Girls Team Time Trial
Bronze medal to Phoebe McCaughan and Sarah McLeod with their Villa Maria Team Mates Emma Smith and Olivia Reiber
U16 Girls Road Race
Silver Medal to Phoebe McCaughan
U17 Boys Road Race
Silver Medal to Rhys Jones
U16 Boys Points Race
Silver Medal to Josh Smith
BENCHMARK HOMES ELITE CYCLING SERIES
Sam Horgan takes out the overall Elite Men's Cycling series. The series takes all season and includes 6 rounds. Sam was very consistent all season riding for the Benchmark Homes team and won the Hokitika Round.
After leaving series co-leader Tom Hubbard well behind Sam only had to finish one place ahead of Joe Chapman. Mission Accomplished.
YUNCA JUNIOR ROAD TOUR
After two days of the tour Christine Lambley sits in 2nd on GC in U15 Girls, Olivia Podmore holds the U17 Girls Sprint Ace and has won two stages. Lucy Timmings sits 2nd in the Sprint Ace in U19 Women.
Harri Rajaniemi headed from Finland to Wales to compete in the 750m TT and Match Sprint in the 40-44 age group.
The TT was not ideal as he false started and was 500m into his ride before Commissaire's signalled him to stop. He only had one heat before his re-ride.
In the Match Sprints he qualified 5th, lost the first round ride, won the repecharge, lost the 2nd round, won the repecharge, lost the 3rd round and placed 2nd in the repecharge leaving him in 5th place in a competition that was opened up to include 4 35-39 age group riders.
It was his first competition at this level and sprint competition on an indoor track so given us lots to work on for World Masters Track Cycling Champs in early October.
Round 5 of the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling Series was held in Queenstown on the course used for Club Nationals and last years Oceania Champs. A cool crisp morning turned into fine day which highlighted the amazing scenery. The racers all came to put on a show and early aggression paid off in all races. 4th place for Sam Horgan was sufficient to put him in the Elite series overall lead. Hopefully his Team Budget Forklifts commitments will allow him to ride the final round to seal the win. Lucy Timmings completed her first Benchmark race and was the first U19 woman to finish.
Check out rickoshayphotos excellent pics of the event!
Lucy attacks the Littles Rd Climb
Sam (L) keeps an eye on the series leader on Little Rd Climb
Mitchell (R) on Lake Hayes Road Climb
Riders head down towards the start of the Littles Rd Climb
Flight delays in Sydney withstanding Maddi is on her way to Italy to compete in the World Road Cycling Championships riding the U19 Women's Time Trial and Road Race. The TT is on a dead flat course while the road race course has been described as the hilliest course in history featuring a 4.5km climb that the U19 women ride 5 times and a 600m that ramps up to 16% gradient as it goes over the top.
Naturally we have been hitting the hills pretty hard looking for more power and power sustained over several efforts to prepare her for the unrelenting ascents she will face in Tuscany!
A weekend of great racing on the roads of Timaru was in store for riders from U17 to Open Riders.
Maddi Campbell took an excellent win in the U19 Women's grade from Alice Bennett. Holly Edmondston won the 1st stage and Maddi won the final 3 stages including a solo victory after going clear up the tough Taiko climb. Olivia Podmore was in hot form sprinting to U17 Girls wins in stages 1, 2 and 4.
Olivia smacks out another Sprint victory.
Maddi goes clear on Taiko
Maddi wins Stage 5 to seal her Timaru Tour U19 Women's Victory
Blenheim Schools Tour is always a fun weekend of racing for School Age riders. It is raced over varying and challenging courses. The crew as always were they with their young Game Faces on and delivered some excellent results...
Max Becket U19 Men: 1st on GC and winner of the Criterium and Sprints Jersey
Lucy Timmings U19 Women: 2nd on GC and winner of the Sprint Jersey
Olivia Podmore U17 Girls: Winner of Queen of Mountains
Josh Smith U17 Boys: 2nd on GC
Christine Lambley U15 Girls: 1st on GC and Queen of Mountains
Max takes U19 Overall
A dominating ride in the Criterium sealed the win for Max!
Dude is on fire. The return from his horror crash at the Tour of Tasmania last year has been slow and we have made a few changes to the programme to reflect that. His racing calender is chocker with challenging stage races that are part of the National Race Series in Aus riding for his Budget Forklifts team. At the Tour of Gippsland he was 5th and his team-mates won Overall and Sprint classification, and Budget Forklifts won the Teams Classification. Then he scored an impressive victory in the Hokitika Round of the Benchmark Hoomes Elite Cycling Series. As I type he is leading the Tour of the Great South Coast Tour holding a 1:02min lead after 6 of 9 stages.
Sam takes the win in Hokitika (photo, the awesome Bruce Wilson)
Jamie Nicoll.
Jamie competes in the new division of off road racing called Enduro that has been around for a few years but now has it's own World Series. The World Series events are a series of timed runs on mostly downhill tracks but can include some uphill sections and riders have to ride to each timed section. Other events are mass start races like the Megavalache that starts right at the top of Alpe d'Huez and goes through the town where the TdF finishes and on to the bottom.
Jamie is known as a Privateer for he is one of the few un-sponsored riders in the Pro grades and he rides in the top grade even though he is eligible to ride in the Master's category. This hasn't deterred him from making a big impact on the sport.
At Megavalanche he qualified 3rd and after a crash in the final ended up 7th. At Mountain of Hell he qualified 1st and backed up in the final taking an awesome victory. He was 15th at round 4 of the Enduro World Series in Colorado when a bug hit him but recovered well to take an awesome 3rd place in round 5 at Crankworx in Whistler. Jamie heads back to Europe soon for the final two rounds of the World Series.
A tumultuous year for Maddi. Realising she needed to show she really had her heart set on contending for the World Road Championships she worked hard after Nationals raising money to send herself to the US to get some International racing. Mid June she headed to Colorado and spent a couple of weeks with the AWESOME Joanne Kiesanowski, training with her and learning from her and Multiple World Champion Sarah Hammer what it means to be a World Class Women's cyclist.
She raced in the open Category at BC Superweek which is a collection of Criteriums and Open races. This years fields were big with 60-80 top Elite women starting in each race and Maddi was on the pointy end of the learning curve having very few crits under her belt let alone with such big numbers. We had a few testy Facebook conversations after the first few but slowly she got the hang of it and was able to make her way to the front and contend for placings.
Maddi then headed to Bend, Oregon to compete in the Cascade Classic. This was a 5 day Elite Stage Race featuring top competition including the recent Women's Giro de Italia winner. She had secured a start for the Colavita Womens Professional Cycling Team which was a huge honour. She found the going tough with some serious climbing on 2 massive stages over 100km with over 30km of climbing on both days in 30degree plus temperatures. Unfortunately mid way through the Tour a tooth abscess caused her to withdraw on the final stage.
She then headed back to Canada to compete in the U19 racing in Rimouski, Quebec. This was the French speaking part of Canada so like being in a whole new world. She placed 6th in the UCI (1.1) Grand Prix cycliste de Rimouski race and later that night lined up with 2 Canadian and 1 US teammate on the Pinarello Giordana team in the Team TT for the Le Tour de la relève internationale de Rimouski. Canadian Coach Andrew Iler made an excellent offer to get Maddi up for the racing.
Before the Tour started she received the awesome news that she had been selected to represent NZ in the U19 Road Race and Time Trial at the Junior World Road Championships in Italy in September. At the Tour Maddi and her teammate Kelly Catlin (2nd at US U19 Nationals RR) were a 2 women demolition squad after taking 1-2 on stages and finishing that way on GC after 5 days of tough racing.
Maddi spent a few more weeks in Colorado Springs, including a ride up the famous Pikes Peak and had an unfortunate encounter with a Racoon and is now back in town where Coach Ferg is going to do some special work on climbing seeing the course for Worlds in Verona features 5km of uphill on each of the 5 laps!
Harri Rajaniemi.
Harri is a Masters Track Sprinter from Finland. He has been working hard over his winter where the outside temperatures were getting down to -30 and rehabbing after a crash late last year cause damage to his shoulder. The Helsinki track is covered in snow for a lot of the year so not a lot of racing opportunities so a lot of work has been done on the erg, chasing power targets, in the gym, a trip to Lithuania and spending some time on Barcelona Olympic Velodrome while there on business. The results so far have been excellent.
He took a Bronze medal in the Open Finnish Keirin Championship. He won the Finnish M40 Championships Kilo in a 1:10.92 on a outdoor concrete 400m track much the same as our Denton Park. He then backed up winning the M40 Sprint Title qualifying in a rapid 11.3. He heads on to the European Masters Championships in Wales in September before making a serious bid at the Masters World Champs in Manchester.
Alice has put in a ton of work in the racing with excellent performances at last years Yunca Tour, TeA Tour, winning the Canterbury U19 Road Title and 5th place in the TT at Road Nationals. This earned her National selection to compete in a NZ team at the Australian U19 Road Nationals. She finished an excellent 11th in the TT and 18th in the Road Race and is now determined to chase victory at the Yunca Tour.
Alice (3rd Kiwi from L) repping the Silver Fern
Greg Potter.
Greg is an U19 Sprinter from Auckland who is making rapid progress. He has invested in a SRM for his track bike and we are building up a store of data as his power tracks upwards. He has been racing well and placed 4th in the Keirin at the Perth GP and rode well in the Sprint Derby at my Track Camp.
These are always a major event on the Junior Racing Calender. What was amazing this year was the weather these poor kids raced in. It was cold and wet on the Saturday for the Individual Times Trials but Sunday was so bad that Winter Worlds was cancelled but the kids fronted up and I didn't see one rider shy away from starting even when faced with rain, hail or sleet!
Wee Hannah braves the hail!
I did a comprehensive report of the racing for the Road Cycling website that covers all the racing. The performances of the riders I work with are easily summed up in photos by the awesome Rickoshay!
Christine demolished the U15 grade in the TT and RR
A Coach Ferg 1-2 in U16 Girls with Sarah an awesome Gold from Phoebe
Josh wins the U16 TT and Silver in RR and TTT
Olivia obliterated the U17 girls TT and RR
Holly was on a mission winning both U19 TT and RR
Max was unrelenting in pursuit of the U19 RR Gold
Track Camp.
This is the third time I have run this mid winter and we ended up with a large group of riders I work with an a few guests to add some spice to the racing. I ran a series of races for the 15s and 17s, a sprint derby and Keirin for the Elites and a couple of U19 women's 4000m Teams Pursuits. It was an awesome time as always and a big highlight for me as a coach as I get to see all the action unfold first hand.
Thanks to all the parents that helped especially Lisa Ward, Pegasus Cycling Club for the loan of the club van, Southland Girls High Boarding House and Cycling Southland for their awesome facility.
While we were down in Invercargill Josh Smith and Phoebe McCaughan were both invited to a week of riding, testing, educational sessions and racing up in the Manawatu at an event organised by Stephen Stannard with assistance from John Rippon and Wayne Girdlestone.
Sophie was one of the top U19 riders on the World Scene in Downhill last year and has moved into the Pro Elite grade. It has been hard going with such a competitive field but she is making progress towards qualifying for World Cup finals and getting excellent racing in the IXS Downhill events in Europe. She was selected for the NZ to go to World Champs in South Africa but will stay in Europe to focus on the final two World Cup events.
Jeannie has had many ups and downs racing on the Pro Women's circuit in the US after surgery early in the year. This hasn't stopped her from making the top step of the podium several times including winning the US American Bicycle Racing Criterium Championship for Pro Women.
May we live in interesting times indeed! These riders and Mitchell Podmore, Kate Boyd, Hannah Clarke, Rhys Jones, Sam Buckner, Lucy Timmings, Sophie Gray, Pip Keenan and Kate Smith are all racing hard and looking to better themselves as riders. It is a privilege to work with you all. The challenges make me work harder and enjoy my coaching even more.
