McCauley Makes the Most of his Melbourne Mission

11 August 2005

McCauley Makes the Most of his Melbourne Mission

Former New Zealand national road cycling champ, Gordon McCauley hasn’t taken long to make his mark in Melbourne.

McCauley headed across for a close up look of the course layout for the Commonwealth Games Road Race next March straight after winning the inaugural Auckland 1000 road race earlier this month. Less than a week after reaching Melbourne, McCauley a NZ rep at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, cleaned up a high-class field of 115 riders, including a number of internationals, to win the 5-day Tour of Gippsland.

McCauley’s month-long trip to Victoria has been made possible thanks to a substantial sponsorship from Harveys Real Estate. “ Without their generous support this trip would not have been possible,” he says. “So I’m very grateful to Harveys for their support.”

Over the next two weeks McCauley hopes to compete in two more 5-day events-- the Tour of Tasmania and Tour of Murray River. McCauley says the 2-stage daily races are “pretty challenging”, but a great way to demonstrate his ability against quality international competition.

After the Tour of Murray River McCauley plans to check out the Commonwealth Games course, where he hopes to compete next year. Although McCauley hasn’t made the initial ‘long list’ of Bike NZ contenders for the Games, he is motivated to demonstrate his ability to convince the selectors he deserves a spot in the team.

McCauley (33), who has won 3 New Zealand road titles and has not lost a race in 4 months, plans to win as many races as he can, including the New Zealand Road Championship and the Tour of Southland later this year in a bid to make the Commonwealth Games road team. This is expected to be named after the Oceania Championships, which take place in December.

“If it wasn’t for Harveys Real Estate and their support there is no way I could undertake my campaign to get in the Commonwealth Games team. To reach that level requires full time training,” he says.

McCauley’s relationship with Harveys began when he assisted Harveys Director, Ross Hunter with a programme for his attempt on the Round Taupo race. After a series of regular training sessions together Hunter decided to return the favour and assist McCauley financially so he could concentrate on his bid for Games selection.

“We are delighted we can assist someone with Gordon’s ability and determination and we look forward to celebrating Gordon’s future achievements,” says Hunter.

ENDS

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