Collision on cycle wall

Press, 24 July 1986, Page 26

Collision on cycle wall

By

PETER O’HARA

NZPA staff correspondent

A fall down the African hardwood mountain at Meadowbank’s cycling velodrome gave two New Zealanders more of a taste of the conditions than they would have liked at the Commonwealth Games venue yesterday. Gary Anderson and Andrew Whitford slid down the 44-degree angle of the velodrome’s imposing slope in a tangle which left them bruised and scraped. Anderson, an 18-year-old from Wanganui, lay at

the Edinburgh trackside for some moments before he was helped back on his machine and continued practice. “They were going too slow, and not concentrating,” muttered, the team manager Bruce Dawe. Anderson, Whitford (Tokoroa), Steve Swart (Hamilton) and Russell Clune (Auckland) were meandering around the top of the track after a practice sprint when the pair crashed. A pedal apparently hit the slope and they plummeted, leaving gouges in Ron Webb’s prized boards. The Australian designer

has erected a track shorter than many at 250 metres, and the boards rise alarmingly to around five metres at the bends. Some of the New Zealand cyclists have looked at the intimidating grey wall and said they weren’t keen on going up there. They also say after trying the unfamiliar boards that the track will be fast, if only the cold Edinburgh wind does not blow across the exposed velodrome.

The track coach, Dick Johnstone, watching with stopwatch in hand, gave his verdict out in the chilly middle yesterday.

“There won’t be too many fantastic times unless the wind stops. It even stops a motorbike let alone a bike.”

Mr Johnstone rode a motorised yellow cycle to pace some of his riders around the Meadowbank slopes yesterday. Mr Webb, who is based in Germany, says he wants to install the same type of track in Auckland for the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Even if the sheer steepness of the turns is scary at first glance, Mr Webb says it’s no different from some of the other tracks he has built.