Accomplished cyclist Emma Cumming is in the New Zealand team for the Juniors' Track World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, in August.
Kazakhstan is in Central Asia and borders with Russia and China. The New Zealand team is likely to have eight riders.
Cumming (Southland Girls' High School) and three other Southlanders - Tom Sexton (James Hargest College), Hamish Beadle (James Hargest College) and and Bradly Knipe (Southland Boys' High School) - recently returned from an international track series at the Adelaide Super-Drome. More than 100 riders took part from 10 countries.
Riding for the New Zealand under-19 team, the Southlanders' results were: Cumming, third in teams' sprint; Sexton, first points race, second scratch race, second teams' pursuit; Beadle, third in teams' spirnt; Knipe got third in team sprint with Beadle and also was in finals in the sprint event on both days.
Beadle and Knipe rode in the keirin final, while in a sprint race, Cumming beat a world champion.
The Southland quartet have been selected to ride for New Zealand at the Oceania Track Championships at the Invercargill Velodrome in October. Also competing will be Sam Miller (James Hargest College), who picked up a stage-placing for the New Zealand under-17 road team at a Canberra event recently.
The five riders are coached by Beadle's father, Dave, and Cumming's father, Sid.
"They all started with us as toddlers," Dave Beadle said.
"They all train and work hard. Most weeks they're in the gym two or three times and do five or six road or track sessions."
Cumming and Sexton are expected to ride at the World Championships in London next year, while Knipe and Hamish Beadle also have a chance of going.
Its website states: "Team Novo Nordisk is a global all-diabetes sports team of cyclists, triathletes and runners, spearheaded by the world's first all-diabetes professional cycling team.
"Comprised of nearly 100 athletes from over 20 countries, Team Novo Nordisk competes in more than 500 international events each year."
Beadle is travelling to a Novo Nordisk training camp in the United States in July. He hopes to ride for Novo Nordisk in a Canadian Tour this year.
Photo and article courtesy The Southland Times