Cycling Southland News Archive

Hot and windy weather welcomed the 41 riders to the start of the new road season. A last minute change of location to the Te Tipua circuit wasn’t the easiest race to start the season off.

Cycling Southland's Liam Aitcheson and Georgia Vessey will quickly switch their attention to the road after today being named in BikeNZ's Under-19 team to contest next month’s Oceania Road Cycling Championships in Canberra.

Southlanders Cameron Karwowski and Pieter Bulling have been named among a six-strong young development team to join several Olympic incumbents in a five-month European based training and racing programme to develop a men’s endurance track team for the world championships and Commonwealth Games next year and on to the Rio Olympics.

New Zealand’s in-form sprinters will lead a BikeNZ team that will chase medals in next month’s UCI track cycling world championships in Belarus.

The sensational sprinters were again the big hit on the final morning of qualifying at the BikeNZ national track cycling championships in Invercargill today.

BikeNZ riders are sprinting their way to the top with seven national records this week at the track cycling championships in Invercargill.

Teenager Georgia Williams heads to her first European cycling experience buoyed in the knowledge her elevation to the elite ranks has met with considerable success over the summer.

Olympic medallist Simon Van Velthooven showed his class to dominate the heats of the keirin on the third day of qualifying at the BikeNZ national track cycling championships in Invercargill today.

The cyclist known as Rhino – Simon Van Velthooven - charged through a world class field to claim an exciting keirin final at the BikeNZ national track cycling championships in Invercargill tonight.

BikeNZ’s world class sprinters produced some world class times as the records continued to tumble on the second day of qualifying at the national track cycling championships in Invercargill.

Auckland’s Sam Webster prevailed from the bevy of world class sprinters to claim the men’s sprint title on the second night of finals at the national track cycling championships in Invercargill.

Sweltering heat in Southland produced some fast times for the opening session of the Elite and Under-19 Track Cycling National Championships in Invercargill today.

Olympic medallist Simon Van Velthooven dug deep to break his New Zealand record on the opening night of finals at the BikeNZ National Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill.

The Invercargill Environment Centre is organizing the a number of events for Bikewise month.

The Elite time trials promise to be two of the highlights of the opening night of competition with the medals to be decided on Thursday evening at Stadium Southland velodrome.

This week’s national track cycling championships promise to be the most competitive and important for several years. The four-day elite and under-19 championships take place at the Stadium Southland Velodrome in Invercargill starting on Thursday.

World champion cyclist Alison Shanks has withdrawn from the track nationals in Invercargill this week, meaning she won't defend her rainbow jersey at this year’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Belarus next month.

Held over 3000 (Women) and 4000 (Men) metres, riders will qualify two at a time with the fastest two qualifiers riding for gold and the third and fourth fastest riding for bronze. Qualifying will be held in the Thursday morning session with evening finals on the opening night of competition.

A single lap of the velodrome out of the starting gate, riders will blast around the 250 metres one at a time in a straight final. We preview the first event to have medal decided at NZ Track Nats.

With riders still in recovery mode after a big weekend of racing, short and sharp racing was on the agenda for the Junior riders, while lighter numbers after a four day block of track, criterium and road racing, meant a tired 25 seniors lined up for racing, with the sprinters looking the freshest of them all after skipping the Gore to Invercargill on Monday!