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- Written by Steve Stannard
A typical windy winter’s day last Saturday over at Pahiatua saw nearly 40 riders turn out for the Bike Manawatu/Central Hawkes Bay Interclub race. A sealed handicap meant that it was a mass start, and as usual, the right to left wind down the main road created carnage right from the word go.
A split quickly developed where about a dozen of the more experienced and stronger riders lapped out whilst the rest were left in a string down the road. A small group of three, including the form riders of Nate Levin, national champ Alex West, Robert Stannard, and Neil Martin then attacked off the front of that group to quickly create an 80m lead. Steve Stannard bridged just before the gap got too big, but paid for that effort on the first hill, where he was dropped going over the top. With Nate paying the price of some hard training, Robert, Neil and Alex pulled away.
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- Written by Glenys Taylor
The first event in what will continue to be a sport on offer in the Manawatu was held at Massey University on Sunday alongside the Striders Half Marathon. The course had been laid out with the start line at the head of the playing fields. The course continued in a zigzag fashion around the outskirts of the playing fields before the riders disappeared between the shelter hedges after first having to negotiate their way over some obstacles. Next was the hill climb before the possibility of a slippery descent and the lap completed back at the head of the fields.
According to young Adam Francis the hardest part was the log obstacle and the best part for his race was passing Sasha going up the hill. All the riders had the same start time but completed a different numbers of laps according to their grading. Cameron Howell reported that the grass section was slow but overall the race was fun.
A fine tussle unfolded between the two Stannards that were competing in the 7 lap race with the patriarch finally taking the lead in the 5th lap.
Photo thanks to Owen Mills
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- Written by Glenys Taylor
And the weather once again was perfect for a club race which saw the largest field of riders for a long time at a club event.
The atmosphere in Halcombe was just buzzing as not only was there a local rugby fixture on but also the Moa Harriers had a relay event that started and finished at Halcombe. The population of Halcombe at 3pm was probably around 4 times the normal population.
Special thanks to our helpers on the day - Steve Challies did a great job as race manager. Our marshals included visitor from Auckland Trish Harvey along with Rebecca Allan, Katherine Stannard and John Stewart.
Although there was a chance of close interaction between runners and cyclists ( and 1 dog) there were no eventualities and it was surprising to see that many of the runners are also cyclists and maybe we can convince them to join us for a club race when they are not running.
Part of the large field included the juniors (and some parents) that were attending the 5 day development camp at Massey University. The juniors have been doing some great rides including at flat ride to Ohakea on Thursday and a hilly ride over the track and Saddle on Friday. After biking out from Palmy they were faced with either a 60km race for the boys and a 40km race for the girls. Then they turned around and biked back to Palmy. I am sure they all enjoyed the rest of their stay in the Manawatu.
Next weeks race is again at Halcombe. Registration is at the Halcombe Rugby Club from 12.30pm. Wanganui will again be doing the timing for this event so to avoid the congestion at registration please ensure that you register online before Friday.
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- Written by Glenys Taylor
CHB certainly turned it on, talking about the weather of course. But not as you would think for the sunny Hawkes Bay. They turned the rain on, so anyone who enjoyed racing in the rain would have been in their element. There was no wind to speak of, or at least that is how it appeared for those of us who remained dry at the registration point.
A small turnout of BM riders certainly let CHB know that there are some good riders in the neighbouring province and watch out when we have a bigger turnout for hopefully the second event in the series.
All riders were to complete 2 laps of the circuit with A & B grade being combined along with C & D grade. The first riders for the A grade race came through the start/finish line for the first time around 43mins.
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- Written by Jan Arbuckle
This is the 3rd year Manawatu Schools Cycling Champs have been held in Ashhurst township and we saw another very successful day of cycle racing.
We had a great turn out of riders this year with 86 entries and the largest field of Intermediate aged school riders the champs have had to date. We also had over a dozen riders from outside the Manawatu area come and compete which gave our riders some extra competition.
Three races were held throughout the day...the first a Hill Climb ITT, followed by a Flat ITT, and lastly a Criterium.
For our newer riders this was their first time racing in a competitive cycling event and they all did themselves proud. To do 3 cycling events in one day isn’t easy and they all gave it their best.