January 2013 Update

Wow, it's 2013 already, just come back from the Tour de Vineyards in Nelson where I was the Chief Commissaire for the Woman's Grade.

Since getting back from Tasmania it has been a full on time as I got stuck into the Track Season. Good news is Sam Horgan is back on his bike and riding hard after his horrific crash in Tassie.

The Track Season has been rather awesome with great turnouts for the Wed and Sun racing and the level of competition has been excellent. Looking forward to running the Canterbury Track Carnival on the 4th and 5th of January.

Went up to Auckland to present my (proposed) research at the SPRINZ Strength and Conditioning Conference at AUT. Also got a chance to watch two nights of racing at Manukau. Some very good riders there which is more motivation for Canterbury riders to race hard before Nationals. One last hurdle to leap with my Masters research (Ethics Approval) tracking changes in cycling specific fitness with a power meter.

I was the Chief Commissaire for the Benchmark Homes Festival of Cycling which was an awesome event and showcases what a top promoter like Simon Hollander can do for Cycling in Canterbury. It is great to hear that he is coming on board with the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling series and the new addition to this series will be a Master's Grade with their own races to go along side the Men's and Women's races.

Took a group of riders down to the Southland Track Cycling Champs and all performed excellently with a surprise NZ record for Olivia Podmore in the U17 girls 500m Time Trial and we really saw Rhys Jones lift his game riding tactically in the Sprint.

We ran a Mid Season Champs at Denton Park which is something we haven't done since the 80s so it was good to give a lot of riders an opportunity to ride Championship events before they go to Nationals, and for the Age Group riders before they ride Canterbury Champs. Olivia Podmore, among others, smashed out a few Denton Park records.

January is full on with the Track Carnival, NZ Elite Road Nationals, NZ MTB National Series (DH and XC), Southland New Year Track Carnival, NZ Cycle Classic, Waimate Track Carnival and NZ Elite and U19 Track Nationals. Motivation for Africa to get out and race hard!!!

Hamish