Annual cycling conference

Press, 29 October 1981, Page 40

Annual cycling conference

True national championships may come about in New Zealand professional cycling if a proposal before this week-end’s annual conference of the New Zealand Professional Cycling Association bears fruit. The suggestion calls for national junior 80km, veteran 80km and senior 160 km road championships to be held as massed starts in one’ venue each season. This is a similar pattern to amateur championships. For many years, national championships in the code have hinged on fastest time in handicap races; these are likely — if the motion is successful — to continue only as South Island championships. Greymouth is proposing a summer road season, which is not likely to get too much support, and that the veterans’ age qualification be

dropped from 40 years to 35 years. That should gain more support, but maybe not enough. The meeting will also allocate the “cyclist of the year” award, and it is hard to see Colin Ryan, the New Zealand and Australian sprint champion, being passed by. Other contenders include the national 160 km champion, John Reid — long in Ryan’s shadow — and Peter Cox, New Zealand’s first winner of the famous Melbourne to Warnambool classic since 1922. But most attention will focus on the moves to registration internationally for the New Zealand professional, or cash, riders. The latest development is that the U.C.I. will not recognise these New Zealanders, but is likely to do so - but maybe not as “professionals” — on affiliation to the New Zealand. Cycling Federation.