BikeNZ riders take first push towards London Olympics

BikeNZ have taken their first steps towards the London Olympic track cycling campaign with a training camp in Invercargill.

The 29-strong group are split into three squads – men’s endurance, women’s endurance and sprint squads – and will come in and out of the camp at various stages over the next two weeks.

The camp is focussing on testing the individual riders, both in terms of sports science and technology over a range of differing training loads.

“It’s our first serious step towards London,” said BikeNZ High Performance Director, Mark Elliott.

“There’s a lot of individual work at this camp with our sports scientists and our technology experts as well as all of our coaching staff.

“This camp is more about getting the wider groups from separate track programmes together to ensure our key performance staff are working effectively with all of these riders.”
The endurance squads will contest the New Zealand Omnium Championships on 18-19 October as part of the camp.

“The omnium comprises a range of events from timed races like the time trials and pursuit to the endurance events like scratch race and points. So it provides a good opportunity for us to monitor where each rider is at and from there our staff can begin to fine tune what each rider will need to focus on going forward.”

This initial camp includes World Tour riders Jesse Sergent and Sam Bewley from Radioshack, and fellow professional Hayden Roulston who is making his first appearance back on the track since his double medalling winning efforts at the Beijing Olympics.

“Hayden has always had a hankering to come back to the track. This camp offers him the chance to see where he is at and if he believes he has a realistic chance to be competitive in this environment again.”

Elliott said the real heat will go on the riders in the next camp in November which precedes the Oceania Championships in Invercargill, where important Olympic qualifying points will be available for some categories.

Following the championships BikeNZ will then select squads to compete in three UCI World Cups in Astana, Cali and Beijing in December and January ahead of the test event in London.

“From there we will have a further very important training camp before selecting the team for the World Championships in Melbourne in early April, and from this will come the team for the Olympics.”

The riders to take part in the first BikeNZ camp are:
Sprint squad: Sam Webster, Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell, Simon van Velthooven, Matt Archibald, Nathan Seddon, Natasha Hansen, Stephanie McKenzie, Katie Schofield.
Men’s endurance: Jesse Sergent, Sam Bewley, Wes Gough, Marc Ryan, Hayden Roulston, Pete Latham, Aaron Gate, Shane Archbold, Tom Scully, Cameron Karwowski, Jason Allen, Myron Simpson.

Women’s endurance: Alison Shanks, Jo Kiesanowski, Kaytee Boyd, Jaime Nielsen, Lauren Ellis, Gemma Dudley, Rushlee Buchanan, Sequoia Cooper.