BikeManawatu Club News

Today Bike Manawatu was very well represented in the junior grades and it was often described as a ‘sea of green’ coming into the finishing straight.

Libby Arbuckle was again first up and completed 2 laps of the 15km circuit. She gained 5^th place in a quick bunch sprint.

The under 17 girls was a very exciting event to follow. The hill not far from the start split the bunch and the top bunch consisted of all of the strong contenders, which included our own Elizabeth Stannard and Michaela Drummond. Our girls were in a small break with the previous days time trail Champion Lydia Rippion but this break got pulled back and Michaela Drummond sprinted the bunch of 6 to the line to claim the gold medal and the national title. It is only Michaela’s first year in this age group so she will already be eyeing up defending that title for next year. Elizabeth was not to far behind Michaela finishing 4^th and only just missing out on the bronze medal.

The under 17 boys grade showed that Bike Manawatu have lots of quality riders with 5 out of the top 6 riders being from Bike Manawatu. Robert Stannard made a solo break early on and had a good gap on the field. This gap was brought in by the charging peloton and at the completion of the 75km stage it was a bunch sprint of about 16. After the tight sprint it was Bike Manawatu’s Alex West who claimed the national under 17 boys title. Crossing the line just after Alex was Campbell Stewart to claim the silver and Southlands Tom Sexton took home the Bronze. Close behind was our own Chris Denholm in 4^th, followed by Hamish Mikkelsen then Jake Van Lienen.

The last race of the day was the highly competitive under 19 men’s grade, which was 103km. Manawatu’s George Roberts was in a break early on but this break was closed and the race ended in a bunch sprint. Mark Findlay and Jordan Castle from Bike Manawatu were there to contest the final sprint where Southlands Josh Haggerty took gold, Jordan showed his strength bringing a silver medal home to the Manawatu and Central Hawkes Bays Regan Gough rounded off the top three placings.

Tomorrow on the program are more road races where Kelsi Eccles will be racing in the elite women, Megan Blatchford-Peck in the masters women and John Stewart in the masters 3 men.

Today was day one of the National club road cycling championships in Queenstown. Fortunately all of BikeManawatu’s riders and bikes arrived at the Individual Time trial event this morning. It is quite a trip to get riders and their bikes down here and some riders and supporters stress levels were tested yesterday, when flights were diverted away from Queenstown due to fog. Luckily John Arbuckle was flown in on his Jetstar flight, which kept him happy and silenced all prior Jetstar comments.

It was an exciting day to be a BikeManawatu supporter as you weren’t often left with out anyone to support. Libby Arbuckle was our first rider off, and did so in style. Libby continued to impress and confirmed that she is the best under 15 female time trialist in the country where she dominated the strong female field over the 14km distance to take the gold medal and 2013 national title.

Elizabeth Standard represented the club in the under 17 women’s time trial where she finished 10^th over the 14km’s in a very fast grade. Lizzie will be a strong contender in the road race tomorrow where the big hill each lap should work in her favour.

The bright green colours of the Manawatu was the most common colour on the start line in the under 17 boys grade, where a third of the grade consisted of Bike Manawatu riders. Hamish, Jake, Jacob, Robert, Cody, Carne, Chris, Alex and Campbell all flew over the 14km’s and posted competitive times with many riders securing top ten performances.

BikeManawatu’s numbers were not as strong in the masters age groups with one rider in the masters categories. John Stewart survived the 25km challenging course where he gained 10^th place.

Kelsi Eccles was next up to the elite women where she rode a great ride, but unfortunately had a few mechanical mishaps along the way. Kelsi is only in her first year in this category and is competing with New Zealand’s elite cyclists.

The last group of the day to compete was the very competitive under 19 mens’ grade. George Roberts, Jordan Castle and Luke Mudgway all road this 25km course in style and are still waiting on results which will be posted sometime, with all the other times on the BikeNZ website.

Once the morning chill moved over it was a great day down south, with the beautiful autumn trees and the buzzing atmosphere of the event.

Tomorrow is another full on, exciting day for Bike Manawatu with the first day of road races. We have the under 15’s, and 17’s in the morning and the under 19 men in the afternoon. Many of our riders are strong road racers and tomorrow hopefully will be an exciting day on the podium for the green jersey of the Manawatu.

click here for full results of day 1