After five years of trying, Fonterra have won the battle of the corporates in Southland, with regard to track cycling.
The Fonterra 1 team won the popular annual corporate team pursuit event yesterday, held at the SIT Velodrome in Invercargill.
Fonterra beat SBS in a tight final, which put them in the top spot out of the 22 teams taking part.
The Fonterra team was made up of Phillipa Swain, Jeff Rooney, Ian Wright, who are all tanker drivers at Fonterra, and Craig Fleming, who is an electrician.
Wright and Rooney know a thing or two about turning the pedals over on a bike, although they have been more used to longer distance racing over tough terrain than what they experienced yesterday.
They both compete in 24-hour mountainbike racing but do enjoy the switch to the short-distance racing on the track.
"It is the totally opposite end of the scale isn't it?" Wright said after the win.
Fonterra have had teams take part in the event for the past five years and for Wright personally it was his fourth year competing.
"It's great to be winning it after trying for three or four years now," he said.
The event is organised by Cycling Southland.
It is a handy fundraiser for the organisation and provides novice cyclists with an ideal chance to use the velodrome.
Cycling Southland have also picked up some riders from the event over the eight years, with some opting to stay involved with the sport.
Speedy Radcliffe and Urology Now entered teams for the first time this year, with Urology Now taking out the division two honours.
Crowe Horwath are the major sponsors of what has been described as the largest world corporate track cycling event.
VIEW FULL RACE DAY RESULTS
View Robyn Jordan's images from 2014 race day here
Dates for the 2014 Crowe Horwath Corporate Pursuit set
Team Event Programme - Sunday 6 July (10am until approx 4.00pm)
Team Elimination Draw
Finals Day Information
Download the 2014 Corporate Pursuit half price membership form here
Get involved with Social Media to promote your business involvement
List of officials for Time Trial and Main Event
View Heat one roller racing results
View Heat two roller racing results View Night 2 article courtesy The Southland Times
View Heat three roller racing results
View Finals night roller raacing results Time Trial Results from 29 June View the Time Trial Photo Gallery here View the diagram of how the team sprint rules work Sier Vermunt and Julian Ineson "What's the attraction of the Corporate Cycling Event? Men in Lycra? Wrong! Not the reason I have decided over the last four years to enter the Corporate Cycling event at the velodrome at Stadium Southland. Potential Sarah Ulmer in the making? Also wrong! Unfortunately there's not a hope that will be the reason I join three other from AWS Legal to train under the watchful eyes of Julian Ineson and Neil Cleghorn for five weeks leading up to the time trial and race day. Time out from the kids? Wrong again. Definetly not the reason I sat in the warm-up area breast-feeding my three month old baby between races and encouraging AWS staff, partners and my family to join the crowd at the Velodrome to watch the racing. Instead for me, being part of the Corporate Pursuit was mostly about trying something new and being able to utilise the world-class facilities we have in little old Invercargill. The buzz of being out on the track, the adrenaline rush of training, racing in convoy with team mates and the office hype associated with being in a team event rank a close second. In fact this event is so much fun, I not so secretly maintain my cycling training for months before the event so as not to lose my place to other younger faster staff members. The countdown is on!" - Toni Green And if that's not convincing enough, check out our Photo Gallery of past Corporate Pursuits. If these fun shots don't sway you, there's nothing more we can do :-) Above: EIS Group win the 2013 Crowe Horwath Corporate Pursuit from the NZ Police EIS sprinted their way to the Corporate Pursuit title at the SIT Zerofees Velodrome yesterday. Competing in the annual Crowe Horwath-sponsored business house cycling challenge for the fourth time, it was the first time the Invercargill electrical firm had won the main event. Team spokesman Dean Addie said the core of riders had improved every year. "We're very happy, it puts all the hard work into perspective," he said. "Every year we've just got slightly better. It is a great buzz." Addie said the EIS team - Carmen O'Connell, Addie, Kate Webster, Brent Webster, Phil Botting, Stu Corry and coaches Scott Milne and Caleb Hope - had overcome a few challenges along the way, including tumbles in training and the withdrawal of a couple of young riders. "That's why a fat old fella like me had to be put in there; there were a couple glitches, a few bruises and bumps," he said. EIS were the top qualifiers in last Sunday's time trial but they knocked just over 2sec off that time on the way to winning the final with a 1:15.645 over runners-up NZ Police (1:16.848). Fonterra, who had earlier been knocked out of contention for the title after a time penalty for a late change, finished third (1:15.207) with a win over the NZ Fire Service 1 team (1:16.369) in the bronze medal ride-off. In division two, the Mitre 10 Mega team took the honours with a narrow win over Ricoh in the final. BNZ edged out Amalgamated Builders for third place. There was some controversy earlier in the day when the junior team of Emma Cumming, Hamish Beadle, Brayden Stephens and Tom Sexton broke the allcomers record for the four-lap Italian pursuit by about half a second with a 1:09.614. That time looked to have been smashed by the all-star combination of Steph McKenzie, Karl Watson, Olympian Eddie Dawkins and his New Zealand men's elite sprint team-mate Tom Beadle with a 1:04.823, but they were disqualified for an early change by Beadle on the final lap. Article courtesy of The Southland Times Round of 16 | Finals (Quarters to Finals) | Consolation Plate (First Round Losers) | Consolation Plate Losers | Plate (Quarterfinal Losers) Round of 16 | Finals (Quarters to Finals) | Consolation Plate (First Round Losers) | Consolation Plate Losers | Plate (Quarterfinal Losers)
The four-person EIS team covered its 1000 metre Italian pursuit in a blistering 1 minute 17.782 seconds to lead the thirty team field. Less than half a second separated the fastest three teams with NZ Police finishing in second place in 1:18.161 to sneak in front of Fonterra’s 1:18.166 by just five one-thousandths of a second. The top sixteen will contest the Division One competition on Sunday with NZ Fire Service’s two teams, Crowe Horwath, Whyte’s Gravel Supplies, ILT Heineken, AWS Legal, Preston Russell Law, YMCA, Environment Southland, Classic Hits, Harrex Group, SBS Bank and Opus International also making the top grade. Division Two will feature BNZ, Amalgamated Builders, Ricoh Southland, Westpac, IFS Growth Ltd, Colac Bay Tavern, McIntyre Dick & Partners, Speights Ale House, HW Richardson, South Port, PowerNet, Mitre 10 Mega, Southern District Health Board and Waihopai Health Services. Racing will start at SIT Zerofees Velodrome at 9:30am with the focus switching from racing the clock to racing the opponent on the other side of the track. The two division trophies are awarded at the end of an elimination round-robin format with some close racing expected on yesterday’s evidence. Entry is just $2 for adults with children free. Corporate Pursuit Membership Form 27 June - Week 1 Results Each team will ride over the 500m distance with the top 4 team times going on to ride off in the final. Teams must have at least one female member. Members must be a competitor in the Crowe Horwath Corporate Pursuit. Start Order: 1 Fonterra The top 4 females from the 5th-8th team final times will race off for 5th-8th female The top 4 males from the 5th-8th team final times will race off for5th-8th male Each of the fastest 4 teams to ride off over the 500m distance. Start Order: 4th qualifier, 3rd qualifier, 2nd qualifier, fastest qualifier The top 4 females from the team final times will race off for 1st-4th female The top 4 males from the team final times will race off for 1st-4th male
Rules of the 2014 Corporate Pursuit
Correct bike seat hold position on left Incorrect bike seat hold position on right
Event Directors
So What's The Attraction Anyway?
Seem like a lot of work? Why would you want to put yourself through something like this? If these questions are rattling around in your head right now, maybe you should hear from one of our original Corporate Pursuiters.
Corporate Pursuit Gallery
Ready For Business at Speed? EIS Group were!
2013 FINAL RESULTS - DIVISION ONE
DIVISION TWO
FINALS LAP SPLIT TIMES
2013 PHOTO GALLERIES
Corporate Pursuit Time Trial Gallery
Corporate Pursuit Finals Gallery
2013 VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
TIME TRIAL DOWNLOADS
EIS takes time trial win in to finals
EIS Group will head in to next weekend’s Crowe Horwath Corporate Pursuit Finals as the number one seed after qualifying fastest at yesterday’s Grading Time Trial in Cycling Southland’s annual business track cycling competition.
2013 TIME TRIAL RESULTS
Place
Team
Time
Speed
1
EIS GROUP
01:17.8
46.283
2
NZ POLICE
01:18.2
46.059
3
FONTERRA MILKING IT
01:18.2
46.056
4
NZ FIRE SERVICE 1
01:18.7
45.737
5
CROWE HORWATH
01:20.0
45.015
6
WHYTES GRAVEL
01:20.2
44.902
7
ILT HEINEKEN
01:20.3
44.841
8
AWS LEGAL
01:20.8
44.575
9
PRESTON RUSSELL LAW
01:20.8
44.569
10
YMCA
01:21.3
44.297
11
ENVIRONMENT STHLAND
01:21.7
44.044
12
CLASSIC HITS
01:21.9
43.973
13
HARREX GROUP
01:21.9
43.95
14
SBS BANK
01:22.0
43.926
15
NZ FIRE SERVICE 2
01:22.2
43.779
16
OPUS INTERNATIONAL
01:22.9
43.403
17
BNZ KIWIS CAN FLY
01:23.2
43.247
18
AMALGAMATED BUILDERS
01:23.4
43.153
T19
RICOH ROLLERS
01:23.9
42.933
T19
WESTPAC
01:23.9
42.933
21
IFS SLUMBER JACKS
01:24.1
42.823
22
COLAC BAY
01:24.4
42.643
23
MCINTYRE DICK
01:24.5
42.604
24
SPEIGHTS ALE HOUSE
01:25.0
42.332
25
HW RICHARDSON RIDERS
01:26.3
41.704
26
SOUTH PORT
01:26.4
41.645
27
POWERNET
01:27.3
41.233
28
MITRE 10 MEGA
01:27.5
41.148
29
SOUTHERN DHB
01:28.3
40.78
30
WAIHOPAI HEALTH
01:33.3
38.574
LONE STAR / SPEIGHTS CORPORATE ROLLER RACING CHALLENGE
QUALIFYING RESULTS
4 July - Week 2 Results | Race report
11 July - Week 3 Results | Race report
18 July - Week 4 Results | Race reportROLLER RACING FINALS - WEDNESDAY 24TH at 7:00PM
Event 1:
2 AWS Legal
3 NZ Fire Service 1
4 ILT Heineken
5 Speights Ale House
6 NZ Police
7 OPUS International Consultants
8 EISEvent 2:
Event 3:
Event 4 - Team Finals:
Event 5 - Women's Individual Final:
Event 6 - Men's Individual Final: