MSNZ Elite Academy graduates 2009

Media Release
Tuesday 14 July 2009

MSNZ Elite Academy graduates 2009

Rally driver Josh Marston, from Christchurch topped the class at the sixth annual Elite Motorsport Academy, which wound up in Dunedin July 10.

The Elite Motorsport Academy is organised by the MotorSport New Zealand Scholarship Trust and run by the Academy of Sport South in conjunction with Otago University.

MotorSport NZ Scholarship Trust chairman Steven Kennedy described the class as an outstanding group who will find great benefit from their week-long experience.

“The sport continues to produce top young athletes and the Elite Motorsport Academy is an important stepping stone in their development, teaching them about a wide range of subjects important in achieving high performance in the sport.”

Marston was fulsome in his thanks to the Trust for the experience. “From the fitness right through to mental skills, and many things in between, I have been taught so much this week.

“I see this as only the beginning, as the important task is to follow up all this knowledge with practice and application to rallying.”

Trust manager Ian Snellgrove said that the Academy of Sport South which runs the Academy in conjunction with the Trust and utilizes some specialist facilities at Otago University continued to do an outstanding job.

“The specialist sports science staff are very committed and each year’s Academy has increased their knowledge and understanding of the demands on drivers of different motorsport disciplines, helping them refine the programmes.”

The effectiveness of the Academy, which is the first of its type in the world, is catching the attention of motorsports organizations in other parts of the world and the MotorSport Scholarship Trust is currently discussing with them the possibility of running a similar programme for overseas drivers.
Eric Thomson, motorsport writer for the NZ Herald was an unofficial member of this year’s class, undertaking all the physical and workshop sessions with the students. He is preparing material for the paper from his experiences and also writes about the course on his blog on the NZ Herald web site.

The graduates from this year’s academy included six race drivers and three rally drivers:

Nicholas Cassidy (Auckland): who completed his first season’s racing in Formula First.

Simon and Mitch Evans (Auckland): brothers who both contested the Formula Ford championship.

Ben Jagger (Whangarei): currently competing in the 2WD NZ Rally Championship.

Damon Leitch (Invercargill): has contested two seasons in Formula Ford.

Joshua Marston (Christchurch): currently competing in the NZ Rally Championship.

Jamie McNee (Wellington): has contested two seasons in Formula Ford.

Matthew Penrose (Rangiora): contested Formula Ford championship in 2008/09.

Martin Short (Auckland): has contested two seasons in Formula Ford championship.

ENDS

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