Cycling Southland and New Zealand Junior track representative Sophie Williamson capped her junior road racing career in New Zealand with an incredible double in the Under 19 Women's Time Trial and Road Race at the Club Road Nationals in Hawkes Bay last week. Here's Soph's own race review.
Another hugely successful performance year saw three Cycling Southland's Eddie Dawkins, Stephanie McKenzie and Ross Machejefski named as finalists in the ILT Southland Sport Person of the Year awards at a Cocktail function held at Ascot Park Hotel last night.
Cycling Southland riders again featured prominently in BikeNZ's Development squads released today, headlined by confirmation of Junior Worlds Track representative Sophie Williamson's entry for the 2012 Junior Road World Championships in Holland in September.
This is supposedly our cycling off-season, although you wouldn’t know it. I guess the moment we were awarded the Junior World Track Cycling Champs for this year, we gave up the right to any off-season writes Chief Executive Nick Jeffrey.
The morning of the Elite & U23 Men’s Road Race dawned and the music started pumping at 6am. I’ve gotta say, it was great to finally have everyone up early at once (and fizzing right from the get go!) and to not have to sneak around making breakfast and packing lunch before slinking out the door at 7am to take whoever was racing that day out to the course!
The one and only Brehan Cairns provides Saturday's (and Friday night's!) Tour Diary entry. Today is Saturday and I am going to start this diary with the happenings of Friday night.
Alexandra’s Sophie Williamson edged out Wanganui’s Cassie Cameron in a sprint finish to win her second national title of the week the under-19 race at the RaboDirect Club Road National in Hawkes Bay today.
Josh Haggerty's fourth placing in the men's under 19 race was Southland's best result at the national club cycling championships in Hawkes Bay yesterday.
Alexandra's Tom Vessey claimed yet another podium finish while Christchurch teenager Hamish Schreurs grabbed his first major victory in his young cycling career at the RaboDirect national club road championships in Hawkes Bay today.
Waikato’s Jaime Nielsen won the bragging rights over her Olympic teammates on the first day of the RaboDirect national club cycling road race championships in the Hawkes Bay today.
As promised by the people that dish out good and bad luck, today was a great day for Team Southland! A few of us were up bright and early for breakfast (some quieter than others according to the U19 boys!) and this early breakfast crew made up the first van load out to Waipawa for the day of Time Trials.
Cycling Southland was in the medals on the opening day of racing at the 2012 Club Road Nationals. Laura Heywood (left), Sophie Williamson, Jenn Muhl, Laura Thompson, Phillipa Gray and Kylie Young all found themselves standing on the podium today.
If bad luck comes in threes, we have definitely had our lot and the horizon is looking much brighter for us from here on in! Great timing considering it’s Time Trial day tomorrow and everything will theoretically be going our way!
An experienced team of Kiwi track officials will be rubbing shoulders alongside some of the world’s best after being appointed assistant commissaires for the UCI Juniors Track World Championships being held in Invercargill in August, including four Southlanders.