BikeManawatu Newsletter 9 Feb 2012

Track rider Simon van Velthooven came away with two gold medals from the NZ Elite Track Championships that were held over Waitangi weekend at the indoor ITL Velodrome in Invercargill. With 2012 Olympic spots up for grabs, Palmerston North based Simon decided to join forces with Auckland sprinters Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster, who were also looking to impress selectors and stake their claims for spots in the NZ sprint team.

Racing against a strong Southland combination that included Eddie Dawkins and Matt Archibald, also vying for berths in the same team, was never going to be a pushover.

The one-hour documentary of this year New Zealand Cycle Classic – Tour of Manawatu will be showing as from tomorrow on Sky Sports.

Times and days are; NZ Cycle Classic 2012
New Zealand Cycle Classic Thursday 09/02/12 18:00:00SKY Sport 3
New Zealand Cycle Classic Friday 10/02/12 13:00:00SKY Sport 2
New Zealand Cycle Classic Saturday 11/02/12 20:30:00SKY Sport 2

For those interested and not otherwise engaged this Saturday night 11th February we are holding an informal get together at Rendezvous Cafe in the Summerhill Shopping centre from 7.30pm for all Bike Manawatu people.

Would be good to see you all there.

33 Days of Cycling is progressing well and we are looking forward to welcoming the NZCT Women’s Tour to the Manawatu in a few weeks time! (Feb 22-26).
A few quick updates on the campaign below.
If you need any additional info or want to get involved in any way please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Kathy McMillan at Sport Manawatu.
EVENTS
Coming up in the next ten days…
17        Feb 10  Win a Bike with MoreFM
18        Feb 11  Pedal Pushers Free Safety Check Day

Bike Manawatu Financial members only 

Are there any adult cyclist's who would like help with any aspect of road cycling? I’ve just completed the Level 1 Road Cycling Coach course in the weekend and to gain accreditation, I need to complete three 1-hour coaching session's but I am also available for any ongoing coaching in a voluntary capacity.

Maybe you have never raced and would like to give it ago this year?!

Today we trialled for Andrew his timing system. And as the racers started to arrive they saw electronic timing mats being laid on the start line and all wondered if they had come to the right start line. For a club race it was a first and although the results from Andrew will come through at a later date it was all very interesting to see how far technology has come. For those that participated Andrew was doing a comparison between 2 sorts of timing chips, the paper ones that were wrapped around the seatpost and the orange ones that were cable tied on to the front fork. And if you took note of the paper timing chip they were from the Santos Great Bike Ride Rotary Club of Perth.  Hope the trial worked well for you Andrew.

This was the first race of the season and a few new things were introduced behind the scenes to make club racing a bit easier for all involved.

When I arrived at Kairanga there was a light drizzle that had set in. And the first to arrive rearing to go was Carne Groube with the big smile on his face that we have all come to recognise as his trade mark. His question to me was “Are we the only ones here again?” Well it wasn’t quiet 5.30pm and as registrations are not open until 5.45pm I suppose we should realise that there are only the keen ones about. Soon others started arriving and Kirsty Kaihau was spotted putting the signs up.

A mild night with a heavily overcast sky and a light North Westerly wind greeted the 23 riders that made the trip to the Johnston Park Velodrome on Tuesday night. Most of the riders had competed at the West Coast North Island track championships held at the weekend with nine Bike Manawatu riders gaining selection to the 16 person West Coast North Island team to contest the Rabodirect Age Group Track Cycling National Championships to be held in Invercargill at the end of February.

Under 15 Boys/Girls - 5 lap race on the whistle

1st    Emily Shearman
2nd    Libby Arbuckle
3rd Michaela Drummond
4th Chris Denholm

Several BikeManawatu member's attended the Level 1 Road Cycling Coaching course recently in Palmerston North. The course was run over 2 days on 4th-5th February at Sport Manawatu. There were 18 course particpants from Whangerei down to Christchurch, with Palmerston North attendee's being, Paul Roberts, Ross Castle, Nick Nelson, Alex Denholm, Kelsi Eccles, Luuk Van Wagtendonk, Howard Pinder and Megan Blatchford.