Cycling Southland News Archive

On Friday I was very fortunate to be invited to take part in an Observer Tour to take a behind-the-scenes look at an outstanding international event being staged in our own back yard, the 2011 Winter Games.

Saturdays race turned out to be an exciting handicap that saw the majority of the field come together with only 500m to the finish line, well done Waine (handicapper).

We had a great night at the track on Friday with some really fun and positive racing. Smaller numbers saw us combining a couple of grades which worked well and it was awesome to see some B grade riders mixing it up in A Grade.

Cycling Southland is again strongly represented in BikeNZ Development’s junior track squads named for training camps in Invercargill with an eye to the upcoming Oceania Championships at the ILT Velodrome in November.

The curtain has dropped on the 2011 UCI Juniors World Track Championships in Moscow and the New Zealand squad ended the five days of competition on Sunday night with 10 medals and 3 fourth-places from 16 events entered, arguably the best result by any group of cyclists at a World Championship.

This week’s Saturday Road Race saw an outstanding turnout with 90 riders (including the Junior Div) competing in the 43km race starting at Gorge Road Country Club and looping around Seaward Downs, Mokotua and back along the Invercargill-Gorge Road Highway.

Cycling Southland's Steph McKenzie has opened her campaign at the UCI Junior World Track Championships in Moscow with a bronze medal this morning (NZ time).

Two of Cycling Southland’s young stars are in Russia for the 2011 UCI World Junior Track Championships which started overnight in Moscow. Alexandra’s Sophie Williamson and Stephanie McKenzie of Invercargill are part of an 11-strong squad who will compete for world titles and the coveted rainbow jersey over the next five days.

A big turnout of riders today for the Waianiwa-Northope-Drummond-Waianiwa 46km graded handicap race, being the first handicap race off the Spring Road calendar.