Young cyclist top prospect

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34107, 20 March 1976, Page 52

Young cyclist top prospect

(By

RAY CAIRNS)

Nothing appears to [stand in the way of |l7-year-old Michael Richards becoming New Zealand’s leading cyclist at the Monteral Olympic Games. His astonishing time of !4min sl.ssec at Cook’s Gardens, Wanganui. on Thursday evening, coming so soon after his 4min 55.8 sec ride in Auckland, propelled Richards from the ranks of an outstanding junior into a clear medal prospect for the Olympics. What is more astonishing is that Richards’s time was the fastest, by some 6sec, to be ridden by an amateur in the southern hemisphere. Even such men as the great Australians, John Bylsma and Danny Clark, and New Zealand’s best, Warwick Dalton and Blair Stockwell, never approached such times on Australasian tracks. It also seems quite possible that Richards will be in a [position to ride in the world [junior championships in Beliguim before the Olympics. (The track events are on July :5-7. the Olympics open on [July 17, and the world 3000 m individual pursuit, far from [hindering Richards’s Olympic [preparation, would be an ex- ! cellent form of top-level (training. All this presupposes that [Richards will be chosen for [the Olympics, and the Olympic coach. Wayne Thorpe,

yesterday confessed to disappointment that none of the selectors of the team to Europe accepted the invitation to attend the Wanganui [trials. The selectors i.Mesrs W. J. 'Holley, H. R. Dutton and P. jN. Robinson) have also been invited to view the 100 km time trial road team tn its (final trial in the Waikato on April 6.