Big medal haul for cyclists?

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 20

Big medal haul for cyclists?

I From

KEVIN TUTTY

in Edinburgh

The New Zealand cycling team is expected to produce a good haul of medals at the Edinburgh Games, and events of the last couple of days have galvanised those expectations.

On Sunday, Brian Fowler, of Christchurch, added to a string of outstanding results achieved in the last few weeks when he won a preGames event in Scotland, and the same day the

withdrawal of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago enhanced the chances of track cyclists winning medals in the sprint. The two Caribbean countries usually have classy sprinters, but when those two nations decided to join the African-inspired boycott, the chances of the New Zealand track team improved. New Zealand's track squad only arrived in Edinburgh last Friday, and yesterday was its first serious training session on the new wooden velodrome at Meadowbank. It was a

strenuous session with all the riders producing pleasing times, according to the New Zealand manager, Mr Bruce Dawe. The new wooden track is still having the bumps ironed out of it Yesterday two workmen were searching the track for slats which have sprung loose since it was laid. Already the surface is a mass of orange blotches where boards have been repaired and painted. One problem exists with the track. It has little shelter from the winds which seem to plague Edinburgh.

Mr Dawe, who has witnessed many stormy evenings at Christchurch’s Denton Park, said that Edinburgh was worse.

The wind could play a factor in the kilometre time trial. Even as the team trained yesterday afternoon there was a considerable variation in its intensity.

Fowler’s win in the pre-Games meeting on Sunday has installed him as the favourite among British journalists for the 100-mlle road race on the last day of the Games on August 2. In his present form

Fowler would have been an asset both to the individual track pursuit team and the 100 km road time trial team. “But he is competing only in the road race and can concentrate all his energy into that” The road time trial team should win New Zealand’s first medal at the Games. Mr Dawe said he would be disappointed if the team did not finish in the first three. “The English are the team we have to beat for the gold.”