Hello cycling enthusiasts,
We trust this finds you all well and raring to enjoy a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year with family and friends.
This is our last instalment for 2016 as we close the office on Friday for a good break so we are raring to go for the New Year Series in January.
You can register online now http://www.cyclingsouth.org.nz/ for our Gore to Invercargill road classic on Thursday 19 January, the ILT New Year Track Carnival on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 January and the Ascot Park Hotel Criterium on Sunday 22 January. We look forward to hosting you all again and kicking of the year in style.
Office Closing & Track Schedule
The Cycling Southland office will be closed from this Friday, December 16, for the Christmas break and reopening on January 9. If you are looking for a Christmas present (concession card or a voucher) do come and see us before that.
While the office is closed, the Stadium will still be open until their Christmas Show on Friday 23 December. We are just having some discussions with coaches around track sessions for next week, so make sure you like our Facebook page and we will post further details later this week.
URGENT – EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST REQUIRED NOW - Elite & Under 19 Track Nationals
We are hosting these at the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome from Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 of February. Can all expressions of interest to represent Southland and your event preferences, along with your timed event times, please be emailed to me[email protected] so the selectors can start co-ordinating team details in our quest to retain the National Points Shield for a record 10th year. Entries will close the day we are back in the office on Monday 9 January.
Age Group Track Champs
These are being held at the Avantidrome in Cambridge from 15 to 19 March, can we also please have all expressions of interest to [email protected] with your age group and preferred events please.
Also a reminder that you will require a Southland skinsuit for these events, so if there is a high likelihood that newer riders may be representing for the first time ensure you see me at the office to arrange these earlier than later. We do have a supply for riders to hire that are still growing etc.
Road Racing
The final South Port Points Series race was held on the Myross Bush circuit last Saturday. Check out the race report and results here
Zookeepers Café Wednesday Worlds finished last week.
Also a wee reminder to any newer riders turning up in the New Year that you do not use aero bars for road racing.
Kicking off 2017, don’t forget there is great prize money to be made at the Tuatapere New Year grass racing event on January 1, along with the Browns 40km handicap followed by the Browns Sports Day on January 7.
Then regular road racing will restart on January 14, with the Zookeepers Café Wednesday Worlds restarting on January 25. View the Summer calendar here
Canterbury Summer Carnival
Can we please have expressions of interest from anyone wishing to head to Canterbury Track Cycling’s Summer Carnival of racing being held at Denton Park on Friday 6 January, 6-10pm, and Saturday 7 January, 4-10pm.
Email Sid [email protected] so travel plans and details can be finalised please.
Now it’s Mark’s turn …
Strategic Plan
A Cycling Southland strategic plan has been drafted by the executive to give direction to the organisation for the next five years. Work will soon begin on an annual plan to link in with the identified roles, as well as the development of the financial plan. Work has also begun on restructuring the financial system currently being used to bring more clarity and simplicity to things.
The draft strategic plan will be presented at a club meeting in the New Year, but if you’re interested in seeing a copy then get in touch with Mark. We’ll be looking for feedback on members’ roles in the future and how our members can be involved to achieve the overall goals.
ILT Funding
We had a visit from Angela Newell from the ILT to drop off event and operational cheques last week. We're extremely grateful to the Invercargill Licensing Trust and the ILT Foundation for their ongoing support and commitment to cycling in Southland. We've had a bumper year of success with an Olympic silver medal plus junior and masters world champions and we'll be working hard in 2017 to ensure we're producing the next group of champs. The ILT are long-time supporters of Cycling Southland and we ask that you support them where you can.]
Sponsorship
We have a range of sponsorship opportunities arising in 2017 for various events that we run. If you or your business is looking to support something in the community or looking for more exposure in a mutually beneficial way, then we’d be interested in talking to you. Contact Mark in the office for more details.
Training centre
The new training centre ofnCourt 8 is slowly emerging. The equipment has been gradually installed and the sprint track is due to go in as well. It appears there is one more piece of equipment to be installed. The area is out of bounds unless you have been authorised to use it so please do not enter the area.
Work is also nearing completion on the transformation of the Sarah Ulmer Lounge. We will still have the ability to use the meeting room and the lounge spaces depending on availability.
If you have any questions please contact Mark in the office or Jason at Southland Academy.
Finally, a huge congratulations to all our Southland riders who competed at the Oceania Track Championships in Melbourne over the past few days – there was some fantastic racing and superb results all round. Check out the results wrap here
Also congrats to Hayden Strong and partner Anton O’Connell who finished second overall at a special event in Bundaberg over the weekend. Over the two nights of racing they accumulated points for their two-man team, with the pair winning the madison, Hayden winning the 20-lap scratch – in style – and coming third in the hot lap in some blustery conditions. They were beaten with the overall result win going to Josh Scott and Max Jones, from Canterbury – great that they had an awesome time and some mighty fine racing.
Then there was Matt Zenovich who picked up a cheeky second in the fourth stage of the Tour of China. It is fantastic to see our Southland stars continuing to perform so well on the international stage – let’s do it all again in 2017!
From us all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and may you all keep safe and well during this time.
Milly, Mark, Bruce and Rabbit