Twenty two talented young cyclists have been named in the 2021-2022 intake of the Grassroots Trust Waikato Bay of Plenty Performance Hub.
The Grassroots Trust Waikato BOP Hub is one of five Performance Hubs, established by Cycling New Zealand to provide a development and performance pathways for young riders who aspire to compete on the world stage in the future. The other Performance Hubs comprise track and road programmes in Auckland, Otago-Southland and Upper South-Canterbury along with the National Performance Hub for BMX based in the Waikato.
The Waikato BOP programme is led by experienced coach Tim Carswell. Tim won two bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and competed at two Olympic Games at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Tim’s coaching career includes roles with the UCI’s development programme in Switzerland and three Olympic Games as a Cycling New Zealand elite coach.
“Our 2021-2022 intake sees a slight shift of focus for us as we follow the Cycling New Zealand strategic plan put in place for the next quadrennial. This sees a strong emphasis put on the U19 Junior age group where 12 of our current intake are currently in the National Junior squad or National Junior Development squad”.
“Its also pleasing to see eight riders from our previous years’ intake have been invited to train this year with the Vantage Cycling New Zealand Senior Development teams for both endurance and sprint disciplines”.
The Grassroots Trust Waikato Bay of Plenty Performance Hub also support the development of coaches within the Cycling New Zealand system with the continuation of its intern coaching programme which includes 7 coaches in the Track Endurance and Sprint areas this year. “We are extremely lucky to have these development coaches working with our programme and the fact that five have already stepped up to working with National teams is an indication that this initiative is bearing fruit,” said Carswell.
The Cycling Performance Hubs have strong local ties and connections with riders, coaches and sponsors in each area. “For the Waikato and Bay of Plenty region, we are indebted to Grassroots Trust, Livingstone Builders for their support in making this programme a reality.”
The Grassroots Trust riders/coaching members are:
Sophie de Vries
Mikaela Grant
Mya Anderson
Reuben Webster
Jack Carswell
Hamish Coltman
Kyle Aitken
Jes Schuler
Maui Morrison
Jack Gillingham
Hamish Banks
Oliver Watson-Palmer
Lily Cawood
Jared Mann
Jaxson Russell
Matt Davis
Keisha Anderson
Seána Gray
Devon Briggs
Lewis Johnston
Zakk Patterson
Liam Cavanagh