National cycling coach quits over ‘rebel’ trials

Press, 3 December 1985, Page 48

National cycling coach quits over ‘rebel’ trials

By

KEVIN PAGE

The national road cycling coach, Mr Ron Cheatley, has resigned from a top coaching committee, because he claims two top officials are undermining his efforts to prepare the New Zealand squad.

Mr Cheatley, who has been involved with coaching national teams since 1979, says a time trial organised by the co-ordinator of coaching, Mr Jack Broome, and national counsellor, Mr Bob Pratt, was the catalyst for his resignation. - 1 He had organised a' training weekend at Wanganui for the New Zealand road squad to attend next year’s Oceania Games, but two riders, Gavin Stevens and David Barnett, pulled out to attend the other trial in Wellington. Faced with the prospect of having only two riders at Wanganui, Mr Cheatley cancelled his meeting. He claims that Messrs Broome and Pratt held the trial to promote their own riders. Stevens and Roger Sumich, another involved in the “rebel” trial, are coached by Mr Broome, and Barnett by Mr Pratt, he

says. The fourth rider was Anthony Graham. “The trial was arranged by the co-ordinator of coaching, Jack Broome, when the planned national squad coaching session was to be held at Wanganui,” said Mr Cheatley, from his Wanganui home yesterday. “I’m not against any guys holding a trial, but they shouldn’t have done it to promote their own riders at the same time.

“They’re trying to undermine the national squad, and I will not be a party to that. It’s an effort to disrupt the national squad training,” he said.

Mr Cheatley said he felt the two officials were trying to promote their riders for Commonwealth Games selection, after they had missed out on selection for the national team to attend the Oceania Games in Wanganui next month.

“I’m here to coach and prepare the riders I’m given. I don’t expect them to disrupt my squad. “Personally, I think the national selectors were right, those riders were not good enough to be in the squad,” he said. Mr Cheatley would not include Barnett in this category though. “Barnett is good, he’s top class and probably good enough, but I think he’s been mishandled,” he added. Despite his opinions, the Wellington trialists came home in a time of 2hr 4min 39.595, inside the previous best time set by Mr Cheatley’s squad earlier this year. “I’m strongly of the opinion that that was not a 100 km distance,” Mr Cheatley claimed. “’They lost a rider after 51km, and continued. To ride a time like that, with only three riders is very impressive, and I’d say even the Russians would be happy with it.” Mr Cheatley said ' there was “fairly strong speculation” among people in Wellington, although he was not prepared to say who, that felt the course was short.

"Our ride earlier in the year was over a surveyed course, and we had a certificate to prove it had been surveyed. They didn’t have a certificate, and they didn’t ride the same course as we did,” he claimed.

His team had ridden a 33.3 km loop course whereas last weekend’s trialists had travelled five times round a 20km course, he said. “There is speculation as to whether they did a true course,” he reiterated. Mr Cheatley would not go so far as to suggest that the other organisers had cheated on the distance, but added that an investigation was to be undertaken, al-

though again he would not say by whom. Mr Cheatley says he is the third person in 12 months to resign from the four-man executive of the national coaches body, headed by Mr Broome. He believes Messrs Vic Dodunski (Hamilton) and Ken Lazenby (Te Awamutu) had also resigned because they, too, were unhappy with the way things were being done on the executive. “I just cannot work under that situation. It virtually became a one-man band,” he said.

Mr Cheatley admitted there had been “ups and downs” in his time on the committee.

“There have been a few unsavoury situations, but all in, the year’s worked out well.”

The National Cycling Association chairman, Mr David Bray, also came under fire from Mr Cheatley after he had turned up to act as a time-keeper at the Wellington trial. “I was very disappointed to hear that he should turn up at such a thing, especially as the national council had backed me the whole way on my weekend,” said Mr Cheatley. \ Commenting last evening from Wellington, Mr Bray said he had been asked to act as a timekeeper for the Wellington event. “If Ron Cheatley had asked me to act as a timekeeper for him, I probably would have done,” he said. “Maybe I’m being unrealistic but in a small association like ours nobody can be just an official. “We all wear three hats. The fact that the national chairman was also the timekeeper is irrelevant,” he said.

Mr Bray agreed that the event was not sanctioned by

his association. "It doesn’t have to be to, my knowledge. It was just al group of people who decided to 'go out and do their own] thing. It probably doesn’t require any permission, except from the Ministry -of Transport.” On the race time, Mr Bray said he had asked Mr Pratt whether there was a surveyor’s certificate when it was realised that the time was under the record. He was told there was a certificate, he said. Mr Bray indicated this information would be borne out one way or another when ratification was sought for the record.