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Entries For: August 2011

2011-08-23

National Junior Series

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There's a new national junior series ...

From the rules :

 

It’s desirable that riders competing in this series are not focused on one particular facet or event of
track cycling.  We suggest riders mix it up and compete in both sprint and endurance events at this
level.

There's one pure sprint event on the program, a keirin, that according to the rules, you get graded on by your performance in .. enduro races!

Keirin Series:
Event-13 Women Under-15 (6 Laps) Heats based on points totals from earlier events
Event-14 Men Under-15 (6 Laps) Heats based on points totals from earlier events
Event-15 Women Under-17 (6 Laps) Heats based on points totals from earlier events
Event-16 Men Under-17 (6 laps) Heats based on points totals from earlier events

Full rules here.

I'm not going to say anything more about this.

 

 

 

2011-08-19

Room for rent!

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In Vermont, aboc HQ!

I have a spare room I need to rent out. Possibly the most bike-friendly house in the universe. 5km from BBN velodrome, 1.7km from Mitcham station, 2km to LBS. 20 min ride to Glenvale. House has :
Gym (my shed)
Bike storage room
I think there's a dunny, a kitchen etc .. all the usual stuff - I live upstairs, so you basically get your own bathroom & toilet (shared, mainly only used by others when people train in the gym)

Actually it's two rooms - and there's a bed in one of them so you have a bedroom and an office/whatever room.

$450pcm and 50% of bills (so around $575pcm at a guess)

I don't mind mess, as long as it's clean mess. Currently the lounge room is my kayaking gear drying room, for example :)

Interested? carl@aboc.com.au ...

2011-08-06

Why masters matter

For the future of sprint cycling, we need to get masters sprinting

When I was a little kid, my dad told me about when he swam (he was very good, broke Australian records, swam world-class times) and played rugby.  These things had a lasting impression on me.  I swam as a kid, and played rugby (union, of course ... real rugby!), from pretty-much as soon as I could.  What our parents do, sports-wise, many of us follow.  For example, Shane Perkins, current world champion in the keirin, his father raced track and was no bunny.  Shane is by no means an isolated example.  Most of the sprinters we see have been inspired to race by their parents.
 

Not all of them, of course, follow in their parents footsteps so if that was all we relied on for new blood, eventually the pool would run dry. How do we find new juniors who want to sprint?  One way is to get parents to have a go.  A recent example is Emily Apolito, her dad took up track cycling as a master when she was around 9 or 10 years old, she saw how much he enjoyed it and she gave it a go and is now a very promising junior track sprinter.  Think also of Will and Bridge Thomas, inspired by their father, I can go on, there are many juniors who started up after their parents had a go, who's parents maybe weren't Olympians like Daryl Perkins, maybe they started later in life but they found that they loved it and their enthusiasm rubbed off onto their kids. 

So masters matter, not just because they make good guineapigs for coaches to test new methods on(!) but also because they bring with them their families, who grow the sport as juniors, starting off at ages young enough that their potential can be realised.  Masters are in it for fun, but they bring so much more than just an entry fee to a race.  We must encourage and support them.

 


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