School ITT - Ashhurst

This Sunday saw a very good turn out of school riders in Ashhurst ready to take part in an ITT.  The riders rode against a strong head wind on the way out but as one new Intermediate rider was heard saying they got to “fly” home.

It was very pleasing to see as many Intermediate aged riders as High School riders who when they had finished had big smiles on their faces and were already talking about the next school ride. 

Results for ITT as follows:

Once again Bike Manawatu riders attended what is arguably the most important and popular tour on the Junior calendar. Past winners of the various age groups have gone onto bigger and better things and include Olympians Peter Latham, Westley Gough, and Rushlee Buchanan, and Tour winners such as Hayden McCormack, Josh Atkins, Gemma Dudley and Serena Sheridan. Doing well, it seems, is a prerequisite to future honours. Past Manawatu winners include Luke McCarthy (U19), James Dobson (U17), and Campbell Stewart (U15).

It’s not surprising therefore that much of the prize money was won by our current crop of Bike Manawatu juniors.

A small number of teams showed up to the West Coast North Island Team Time Trial Championships on Saturday the 23rd of February.

Bike Manawatu fielded three teams, under 17 boys, senior women and senior men. All teams were made up of four riders and the teams completed 16, 25 and 40km respectively.

Because of the small numbers, our under 17 boys team made up of Jaycob Sievwright, Robert Stannard, Alex West and Hayden Washington-Smith, were the only team in their category and so as long as they finished were guaranteed the title. They still put all their effort in to finish the course in 25 minutes and 23 seconds.

The senior women team consisted of Sue McMaster, Jocelyn Goodwin, Katherine Stannard and Kim Andersen. They rode very well as a team to finish in second place in a time of 37 minutes and 25 seconds.

Our senior men, Steve Stannard, George Roberts, Barry Gilliland and Luuk Van Wagtendonk, were part of a field of six teams including strong turnouts from Stratford and Wanganui. They finished with a quick time of 53 minutes and 33 seconds but fell 47 seconds short of the Wanganui team to end in second place, a very respectable ride nonetheless.

148381_524122134288473_1342610572_n-1This past weekend saw Track Cyclists from Palmerston North, Whanganui, Levin, Stratford, Hawkes Bay and Wellington travelling to New Plymouth to compete alongside the New Plymouth Trackies in the WCNI Track Cycling Championships.

With Mount Taranaki and the ocean sitting either side of the Veledrome the Taranaki Cycle Park is easily the most scenic Veledrome in the country,  although with that kind of scenery comes the wind and the cyclists found themselves battling very strong head winds down the back straight as they raced.  That being said there was plenty of very good racing to be seen.  Of notable mention were Kelsi Eccles (Bike Manawatu) and Kyle Davie (Levin) who rode exceptionally well.  These two riders (from a spectators point of view) have made the most noticeable improvement from last season.