A strong Southland contingent has been named as part of a young BikeNZ squad named to compete in the Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Adelaide in November.
Ten Southlanders will contest the championships in Elite and Under 19 squads, headlined by Southland Olympians Eddie Dawkins and Natasha Hansen who will be joined in the Elite squad by Matt Archibald, Sequoia Cooper and Under 23 riders Pieter Bulling and Cameron Karwowski. Junior Worlds representative Jeremy Presbury is joined in the Under-19 squad by club-mates Josh Haggerty and first year under-19s Michael Culling and Laura Heywood.
The championship, which carries qualifying points for world cup and world championships, represents the start of campaign looking ahead to the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Olympic Games.
BikeNZ has selected riders who have been part of their under-23 squad in Europe last year, recent junior world championship representatives and other promising talent for the championships to be staged at the Adelaide Super-Drome from 28 November until 2 December.
“We have some talented young riders, both already with a taste of international exposure to our BikeNZ culture and others with real promise that we have included in this group,” said BikeNZ High Performance Director Mark Elliott.
“Several in this group have been part of our Under-23 development programme, racing in Europe last year and they are well positioned to have the opportunity to push into the elite track squad going forward.
“At the same time our elite sprint squad are still extremely young, but are built around the London Olympic team, who were established in the first place as a 2016 target group.
“And we saw at the junior world championships that we have some burgeoning talent in the junior ranks.
“They are going to get their opportunity to put their hands up for selection to our internationals quads going forward. This will be the starting point.”
The team is:
Elite, Men’s Endurance: Alex Frame (Christchurch), Piet Bulling (Invercargill), Scott Creighton (Hamilton), Dylan Kennett (Waimate), Hayden McCormick (Te Awamutu), Cameron Karwowski (Invercargill).
Women’s Endurance: Gemma Dudley (Levin), Sequoia Cooper (Invercargill), Georgia Williams (Auckland), Racquel Sheath (Auckland), Alysha Keith (Dunedin).
Men’s Sprint: Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill), Sam Webster (Auckland), Ethan Mitchell (Auckland), Matt Archibald (Invercargill).
Women’s sprint: Natasha Hansen (Invercargill), Katie Schofield (Dunedin).
Staff: Craig Palmer (Male endurance), Stu Macdonald (female endurance), Dayle Cheatley (Assistant coach), Justin Grace (sprint coach), Dale Hollows (mechanic), Mark Mathew (physiotherapist), Justin Evans (sports science), Daniel Healey (Manager)
Under-19, men’s endurance: Luke Wieblitz (Christchurch), Josh Haggerty (Invercargill), Connor Stead (Christchurch), Michael Culling (Invercargill), Regan Gough (Otane, Hawkes Bay), Cameron Ford (Nelson), Alex Hooper (Ashburton).
Women’s endurance: Lauren Hobson (Auckland), Laura Heywood (Invercargill), Alice Hay (Christchurch), Holly Edmondston (Waimate), Kate Stewart (Palmerston North).
Men’s sprint: Jeremy Presbury (Invercargill), Zac Williams (Auckland), Chad Elliston (Auckland), Callum Saunders (Blenheim), Quinn Karwowski (Blenheim).
Staff: Ross Machejefski (male endurance coach), Mark Lucas (female endurance coach), John Rastrick (sprint coach), Ben Rowell (mechanic), Jessica Massey (manager).