Wind will test cyclists

Press, 30 September 1977, Page 28

Wind will test cyclists

From RAY CAIRNS, in Wanganui Mr Gordon Sharrock, the convener of the national cycling selection panel, was not joking earlier this week when he forecast that winds would play a significant role in the New Zealand road championships and Commonwealth Games trial. The large and strong Canterbury team yesterday had a quiet ride round the Springvale and Kai Iwi courses — between them the circuits for the four massedstart championships — and even at that leisurely pace found the winds knocking them around.

Certainly, the Springvale course — to be used for the veteran and boys’ championships — needs some other natural feature to toughen it. It has no major, testing climb, and the shorter hills in themselves are not likely to affect the field greatly. But the winds, particularly if they gust with the intensity of yesterday’s northwesterly, will alter things. Canterbury riders are fully expected to be prominent today. Ross Bush is a past veteran champion and will be seeking to recover the

title he lost last year to Arthur Candy (Waikato) with the knowledge that Dick Johnstone (Auckland) a respected opponent, has chosen instead to ride in the senior race. Waikato will pose a dual challenge to Bush as, besides Candy, it I has Brian Fleck, runner-up • in both years the over-35 race has been held. ; The only other champion ' defending his title, at the ■ other end of the age scale, i is Shane Smith, the Canter- : bury champion in the boys’ event. There are some worthy opponents — David : Dixon and Julian Sharrock ; (West Coast-North Island), Bleddyn Wills (Southland) . and Eric O'Brien (Auckland), , prominent among them — ' but Smith may be most sorely tested by his team- , mates. Mark Nichols, a cyclist of ; only a year, has proved the equal — and sometimes the superior — of Smith in almost all facets this season, and Nick Purcell has a sprint to match anyone in New Zealand. Indeed if the Canterbury team — Steve Burdon, Peter McEwen and Martin Sanders are the others — was to perform a systematic attack at the

beginning, it could well make the race its own.

Toni Horne, who promised to feature prominently last year, has his last chance to win the junior title, and it is one that has eluded Canterbury cyclists since Les Lock won the first, 31 years ago. But the junior field is one of the best-looking for many years. Auckland has a strong hand in Martin Dwight, Benny van der Griend, and Graham Hill, an even Waikato team is led by Mike Bosomworth, so prominent in Hie boys’ race last year, Coast-North Island has his counterpart in Tony Songhurst, and the very good West Coast-North Island team includes Bruce Watson, Ron Richdale and John Dykman. But Canterbury, too, has perhaps its best team yet in the junior field. There are the all-round abilities presented by Royce Dawson, Paul Flattery, Tony Duder and Kevin Basher, Murray Steele’s sprinting, and the solidness of Bruce Brunton — provided he avoids the punctures which dog him — Mark Fortune, John Stace and Greg Tump.

One interesting side-fea-

ture of the championships is the presence or otherwise of dope-testing. The man usually in charge of these controls, Mr Alf Haslett, is in hospital, and until Tuesday’s national council meeting, no-one had given much thought to a replacement. The national council, naturally, was reluctant to announce there would be no testing for stimulants, and the West Coast centre took the initiative by stating it would handle the matter. But there is a strong body of opinion which says that West Coast — or its organising club — might let the matter drop for the understandable reason of lack of time.