Olympians to race around Takapuna CBD

5 November 2012

Olympians to race around Takapuna CBD

Olympic medallists Aaron Gate and Westley Gough will line up alongside fellow Olympian Shane Archbold this Friday night for the Criterium National Cycling Championships in Takapuna.

Having just finished the Tour of Southland on the weekend, the three men have confirmed they will do battle amongst New Zealand’s best professional and amateur cyclists in what is considered one of the most exciting events on the BikeNZ calendar.

“Tours generally do a pretty good job of setting you up for any type of event. You’re riding back to back hard days which work really well as long as you have enough time to recover before the next event,” said 21-year-old Gate.

“Anyone who has done the [Tour of] Southland will be in pretty good shape heading into the Criterium National Championships on Friday.

“I did all right last time I raced this event, so hopefully the legs feel good and I can do even better this year.”

Up to 10,000 spectators are expected to line the main streets and fill the bars of Takapuna Beach to witness the multi-lap racing around a tight and technical 1.1km circuit.

“It’s a great circuit and a great event. It’s cool to have so many people out there watching a bike race and spurring you on,” said Gate.

“As an Aucklander, it’s great to have something of this calibre not too far from home.”

Also headlining the elite fields are both the Subway Pro Cycling and Pure Black Racing teams, as well as six members of the New Zealand junior track team who notched up a total of ten medals at the 2012 UCI Junior World Track Championships in Invercargill.

Racing starts at 5:30pm with open entry age-group and masters events, before the elite men’s and women’s races later in the evening.

ENDS

© Scoop Media