Happy Tuesday everyone,
Well the 60th Anniversary SBS Bank Tour of Southland is underway for another year and it’s already proving to be another great event with 20 teams, a fantastic Prologue and Gala Day opening on Sunday and gritty finish on Stage One in Lumsden yesterday. Make sure you keep up to date with all the coverage on our Tour Facebook page as well as the website www.tourofsouthland.com as it is very unsure who may be taking out the Tour title this year! They’re heading for Te Anau today and Coronet Peak tomorrow.
Don’t forget that we have the BDO Bluff Hill Workplace Challenge and community fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House in conjunction with the Bluff Hill stage on Thursday starting at Stirling Point at 12.30pm. So if you are up for the challenge and a spot of fundraising or get some sponsorship on board to undertake this feat then head along on Thursday – we’d love to see you all there. Check the details out
The tour concludes with the Stage 6 Time Trial in Winton this Saturday at 10am, followed by the final stage to the Gala Street Reserve in Invercargill starting at Winton at 1.30pm. Head down and greet the riders at the finish before 3pm if you can. We can also use a hand with the pack down at the end of the final stage at Gala Street again on Saturday if you are keen and willing.
SIT Southern Performance Hub
Expressions of interest are now being sought for the SIT Southern Performance Hub – click here to find out more and download a form
Saturday Road Racing
Check out the Grove Bush Handicap race report. The next race will be the Thornbury Graded (a South Port points series race) on November 12, at the usual summer time of 10.30am. Race manager is Marty Lohrey and marshals are Blake Tait-Jones,, Corbin Strong and Matt Nunn. If you cannot fulfil your duties, please find a replacement and notify the office thank you.
Zookeepers Café Wednesday Worlds
Don’t forget to head along to the Tisbury School corner at 6pm each week for 6.30pm race starts, $5 per rider with social and junior grades too. Just to clarify there is no race this week and racing resumes 9 November due to all STMS equipment and crew being out on Tour sorry. Results last week were A Grade: Nick Kergozou 1st, 40.11, Tom Sexton 2nd and Josh Haggerty 3rd. B Grade: Aaron Sinclair 1st, 43.23, Jamie Wilson 2nd, Andrew Lienert 3rd. C Grade: Helena Rikiti 1st, 49.30, Sam Thornbury 2nd, Olivia Thornbury 3rd.
Southland Team Shirt Orders
FINAL ORDERS for Southland team shirts for the upcoming Track Champs and other events, including next year's Track Nationals. Shirts $35 each so please email: [email protected] with your order and include what size you want.
Payments to be made to the office by the order date please.
Licensing and Memberships
2017 memberships and licensing is now available for updating online here If you have any queries about how to go about this or need to know more, feel free to contact me [email protected]. For any newbies to track events, you need to be a member of Cycling Southland and licenced with Cycling New Zealand to compete at the upcoming Southland Track Championships and New Year events, including the Track Nationals.
Take care for the week ahead – huge good luck and travel safely to all those officials, volunteers and teams involved in this year’s tour. Have a fantastic week ahead and we look forward to seeing how the stage battles unfold over the coming days.