Post 4 of 8. 1986 - 1990.
Working life at Alliance Ocean Beach Export Freezing Works. Transition from rowing to road cycling, biathlon, and triathlon. 4ZA/Marist Triathlon teams section. Southland Ironman teams section. Southland Road Cycling Championship. Tour of Southland.
1986.
The 1985-1986 rowing season
was my final representing the Invercargill rowing club. It was reported in a
1986 Southland Times newspaper article I featured in that I could be a major
threat to Southland’s top triathletes if I decided to stop rowing. So I made
the decision to transition to road cycling, biathlon, and triathlon at the age
of 23. A word on the sport of rowing. Although I enjoyed playing rugby, I
needed a sport that I could really get my teeth into. As I wore glasses, rugby
meant I had to wear contact lenses and at time in my life they were expensive
to buy so I chose not to wear them. While in rowing, road cycling, biathlon,
and triathlon I could, and I did. Joining the Invercargill rowing club was the
greatest decision I made in my life. I still say to this day it is the ultimate
team sport. I met some of the best and greatest people in my life at
IRC. The club had excellent administration, coaches, and rowers. I lived and
breathed rowing. I never knew it at the time but it such a character-building
sport. You only need look at the history of the sport of rowing in our
Southland province to understand what impact in had on the community. There is
a small creek/stream of water that runs between the Invercargill and Waihopai
clubrooms, and a small rail-less bridge crosses it. On regatta days on the
Oreti river, the bridge became a symbol of what it meant to be a club member of
both Invercargill and Waihopai and the degree of healthy competitiveness,
rivalry, and respect for each other. I can remember on one of the rowing
regattas on the Oreti river pulling aside the club captain at Invercargill who
was a fellow crew member in our Senior Eight and disclosing to him, ‘If I ever
see a Waihopai rower cross that bridge in an attempt to invade our territory I
will slay them’…Sport to me has always been a do or die Shakespearean play. It
is not to played in a half-assed effort. If you understand the history of sport
and exercise it has its pedigree in war. Fitness was part and parcel in waring
armies. Therefore, I viewed my participation in sport as though I was in an
army. This might have something to do with my grandfather who served as a
corporal in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Auckland 3rd
Battalion Rifle Brigade D Company and spent 3 years 157 days overseas during
World War 1. Although he served in the Auckland Battalion he initially signed
up for duty when he lived and worked in a sawmill near the Murray River on
Rakiura/Stewart Island around 1914. He was 18 years old when he joined.
Ironically I was 18 years old when I joined the New Zealand work force and the
Invercargill rowing club. However, the difference was my grandfather endured
the horrors of fighting in WW1 especially in France where weather and ground
conditions were atrocious and he unfortunately caught every illness/sickness
possible before he was finally wounded in battle. When he returned to New
Zealand there was no psychological counselling available, and he suffered in
silence along with all other soldiers.
I remember the day of the
1986 Southland Road Cycling Championship as if it was yesterday. The senior
course wound its way around the Mataura circuit – a gruelling course of
undulating up and down gradients, cross winds, and generally cold temperatures,
not the ideal day for ‘sit and sprint’ riders. As it was a scratch race where
all riders started in one group bunch together at the same time, this was
completely the opposite to the usual handicap racing during a road cycling
season. Such races and courses tend to sort the ‘men out from the boys’ as it
were nevertheless it is the perfect opportunity and occasion where ‘sit and
sprint’ riders can ply their trade. There is no rule in road cycling that
stipulates a rider must come to the front and take their turn lapping it out.
Although that is the general ethos of road cycling where a rider laps it out in
their respective group and spends their fair share of time at the front facing
the wind, there is no rule mandating it. That means a rider can refrain from taking
their fair share of the wind in particularly a scratch race and can sit in the
group saving as much energy as possible and thereby being able to sprint to the
finish line at the end of the race with as much power as their body and legs
can produce – while many other riders who have faced the wind – cannot. That is
just how scratch racing and stage racing works. A note here of how Southland
road cycling was run back in 1986. There was no OFFICIAL TEAM racing and
individual racing was promoted. However, where there’s a will there’s
always a way. That means almost all and any road cycling race will see
riders assisting or helping each other effectively cancelling out
all and any individual style racing. What you see isn’t always what you get.
While an individual rider crosses the line in first place, often it was because
they were assisted and helped by either another rider or riders -yes plural by
tactical strategic riding during the race. There is no individual road cycling
anymore. There could an argument there never was…Today’s road cycle racing is
totally team oriented especially professional road cycling.
I lined up at the start of
the 1986 Southland Senior Road Cycling Championship aged 22 in a reduced field
number of around 15 riders if my memory serves me correctly. With such a
gruelling course and reduced field number the race is really determined by the
course characteristics and no amount of strategies and tactics riders believe
they can employ to win can and will take place during the race. In other words, the course tends to determine
the winner. In road cycling courses can vary from flat roads to hilly roads.
They can be mixed, or they can be one or the other. Flat courses are more
designed for sprinters, hilly courses for climbers and stronger riders. This is
in general. Today its all about the amount of power a cyclist can produce.
Obviously the more power a rider can produce the more chance there is of
winning or placing. The equation can really relate to road cycle racing in
general from when it started to now. Power or generating wattage [the most] =
high performance results. It's the same in track cycling, and possibly all
cycle racing. Another key factor in determining success is a rider’s speed
or leg speed. Generating as much leg speed as possible [cadence].
The equation then becomes maximum power and speed = winning performance. However,
I have always believed there’s another key determinant in a road cyclists
physiology and that is strength. Strength and conditioning coaches are
everywhere in professional sport today and truth be told I have always been
one.
[note on strength training]
I began strength training
for running when I was 13-14. I didn’t lift heavy resistances, I read up on
strength training literature for young teenagers and it all reiterated
lighter to middle amounts of weight/resistance was best and more repetitions
i.e. 8-12 reps, and three sets was the best prescription for developing
strength. I even bought my first piece of high-technology fitness equipment
when I was in Form 6 at Cargill High School – a BULLWORKER. My parents
were skeptical I’d use it. I would ride my bike home from school at lunch time
and do a Bullworker session, eat a banana with yoghurt and a muesli bar for
lunch, then ride back to school for the afternoon. I developed a lot of
strength working out with the Bullworker. I began going to the gym to exercise
with a friend in Form 6 as well. I loved working out with weights. I also
worked out with weights during my time rowing plus we performed exhaustive HIIT
[high intensity interval training] workouts after either being on the water or
if water conditions were too rough we’d complete running circuits around
Fosbender Park or the tracks around Sandy Point. These HIIT workouts consisted
of a series of total body exercises such as burpees, star jumps, squat jumps,
sit ups, press or push ups, followed by short all-out sprinting for say 50m,
then repeating the HIIT exercises. We would perform these workouts wondering if
they were designed by some kind of torture chamber guru and we labelled such
workouts P.T.A. [pain, torture, and agony]. We couldn’t believe how much these
workouts hurt our muscles as the lactic acid that was produced from the intense
exercises accumulated. Our coach would initiate the workouts and on occasions
even perform them until we finished, we weren’t sure who was the craziest, our
coach or us. I can remember going to bed on occasions around 10pm on a weeknight
and waking up the next morning feeling almost ‘hungover’ and not from alcohol
but from lactic acid build up I guess, and I felt as though I desperately
wanted and needed way more sleep. That would have been during the 1984-85
rowing season when I was 21. The thing was as I had a background fitness level
in running [7 years including 5 marathons and 5 half marathons] I already had a
reasonably well-developed cardiovascular fitness system and rowing simply added
another string to my fitness bow – a bow that was rapidly developing into a
unique fitness base/instrument for sport. This would eventually define my
attitude to sport i.e. if I wanted to compete in sport at the highest level,
then I needed to be supremely fit. At the age of 23 I had competed in rugby,
harriers/running including cross country and road racing and full and half
marathons, rowing, road cycling, biathlon [run/bike], and triathlon. Southland
endurance sport was about to get a taste of my fitness and natural sporting
talent.
The course of the 1986
Southland Senior Road Cycling Championship plus the lower number of riders in
the field was always going to be a recipe for a rider of my calibre. Few other
riders in the field had the same level of strength as I, although at the time I
didn’t know that. During the race, slowly but surely riders began ‘pinging off
the back’ up the one main hill of the course. That is rider’s fitness and
strength began to get tested and I somehow found myself being at the front of
the entire field up the hill on each lap of the gruelling Mataura circuit [5
total laps I think]. I felt great and finally on lap 5 I made the decision that
would determine the result of the race, I rode away from the remaining riders
up a crucial hill climb, except for one rider…this rider was a very wily
veteran who’d won the Tour Of Southland in 1973. He and I powered on for the
remaining kilometres left in the race however I was the strongest rider and was
pulling more laps and then something happened that had never occurred before,
he started talking to me. He said as I was the strongest rider and was pulling
more laps than him he wouldn’t sprint against me to contest the win. I was new
and naïve to this kind of negotiating during a bike race and I was usually
either too out of breath or fatigued to be talking to other riders during a
race. We both knew that if there was ever going to be a sprint to the finish
line between us to contest the win who would win…Therefore it was looking like
the rest of field wasn’t going to catch us and sure enough I crossed the finish
line in an uncontested sprint in first place and became the 1986 Southland
Senior Road Cycling Champion, in only my second season of racing, aged 22/23. I
couldn’t believe what I had achieved. It took me weeks to come down from the
elation of winning such a prestigious title/championship. Cloud nine was mighty
fine that time. I featured in an article in the local Southland Times
newspaper. The wily veteran was eventually disqualified from the race on an
eligibility technicality as he was a veteran competing in a senior event.
Incidentally my winning margin to the official second place getter was 2
minutes. I was selected to represent the Southland province in the senior
category at the 1986 New Zealand Road Cycling Championships held in Hawera in
the North Island. I was the sole senior entrant representing Southland in the event.
A fellow Invercargill
cycling club member suggested as I was good enough I should enter the
prestigious Rothmans Tour of Southland for 1986. I didn’t know what I was
capable of after a disappointing result in Hawera where I never even completed
the course due to fatigue. However, I decided to enter and was placed in the
‘B’ Grade category. There were 9 riders
entered in the ‘B’ Grade and 19 riders in the ‘A’ Grade category. It was a
smaller field than usual, and I was very new and naïve to this type of tour
racing. Nevertheless, there was some superstars of New Zealand road cycling
entered in the event. I have never forgotten my first Tour of Southland. For
the entire event I cannot remember much more than the cyclist’s back wheel in
front of me. Because remember for maximum slipstreaming effect to take place a
rider must ride or follow as close to another rider’s back wheel as possible.
So, all I did for the whole event was focus my concentration on the back wheel
of the rider in front of me. If you had asked me where the route went for a
stage, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you as all I did was focus my
concentration on the back wheel of the rider in front of me. The first day
consisted of 3 stages. My climb up the famous Bluff Hill turned into my worst
nightmare and I eventually dismounted my bike near the top due to fatigue and I
walked up the strongest gradient. I miscalculated the gear ratio on my rear
cluster and the smallest gear was too high and it zapped my energy. The tour
went from a Time Trial on Wednesday evening through to finishing in Gala Street
outside Queens Park in Invercargill on the Sunday afternoon – a total of 5 days
and 11 stages. I can’t remember where I finished on General Classification in
the ‘B’ Grade that year, but I did finish my first Tour off Southland.
I competed in my very first triathlon as an individual competitor in the 1986 Queenstown Resorts Ltd Triathlon at Lake Hayes in Central Otago on 26th March. This triathlon developed into one of the most popular and successful in the South Island and the original organiser Mr Tom Pryde became a legend as it was difficult to organise in this pristine location of Central Otago where there is a lot of traffic around the time the event is run. I have never forgotten that triathlon. When I was a child I once had a nightmare experience in the Alexandra Holiday Camp that the Manuherikia River runs through. My parents thought they’d teach me a lesson about the dredging hole in the river that was near rocks where teenagers would jump off and into the river over the summer Christmas holidays. I loved water as a child. Both of parents weren’t swimmers. They decided to teach me a lesson about the dredge hole in the water, and they verbally warned me about it ‘there’s a hole in the river so don’t go into it’. So, what did I do? As I loved water I walked into the river…and without any warning whatsoever instantly dropped into the hole in the riverbed…all this water went over my head and I panicked. Then my father’s hands were around me and he pulled me out of the water hole in the river. I was coughing and spluttering. My parents verbally warned me a second time ‘we told you didn’t we, don’t go into water’…And again after a few minutes I repeated my walk into the river…and again all of a sudden ‘WHAM’ down into the hole I went again…however this time I think my parents agreed to let me stay underwater a little while longer so I would never forget the lesson they were teaching me. This time I really panicked and wondered if I was going to drown. Then again, my father’s hands and arms pulled me out of the water hole. I didn’t go back into the water a third time and ever since that moment I was afraid of putting my head under the water especially at swimming classes during school times at the local tepid Conon Street Baths in Invercargill. My parents knew I liked water and were desperate to get someone to teach me how to swim. Finally, one time again at Christmas time in the Alexandra Holiday Camp and the Manuherikia River they asked a gentleman who they knew and who was a competent swimmer if he could help me learn to swim. This gentleman Mr Colin Smith was a ‘hands on swimming tutor’ and he got me into a shallower part of the river where I could lay on my front in the water confidently without stressing out to the maximum. He then slowly but surely guided my body and hands with his hands to perform the freestyle swimming stroke. When he finished it was as though he had performed magic, and I was much more confident about being in the river and swimming in it in general. However, it would take many years for me to be fully confident and competent at swimming as the nightmare of almost drowning in the water hole haunted my mind tormenting me. Although I had been practicing swimming in both the Queens Park and Conon Street swimming pools in Invercargill before the Lake Hayes Triathlon, I hadn’t practiced at all in a lake. The course for the Lake Hayes Triathlon swimming leg started near the southwest shore and crossed over the lake to finish on the east shore about a kilometre away. I remember being a little nervous before the start of the swim, however once started was soon freestyle stoking away nicely as the water on the lake seemed quite flat. As I progressed however the water began roughing up as the wind swept in across the lake and it wasn’t long before I found it difficult to breath properly. Then my mind began racing and I soon lost my rhythm as I wasn’t used to the rougher water conditions. Then I stopped swimming and wondered if I would need rescuing as I was well out of my comfort zone, frightened, although I never panicked. I tried to relax however difficult it was. I began continuing to swim freestyle albeit slowly and wondered if this nightmare would end. To my relief the end of swimming leg appeared, and I exited the lake eagerly looking forward to the next cycling leg. This was my strength area, and I began passing slower competitors. I had a great ride and transitioned into the running leg feeling good. I enjoyed another good discipline running and ended up finishing in 6th place overall. Reasonable for my inaugural triathlon.
Finally in 1986 I also competed in Biathlon [running, and cycling]. In the fist biathlon of the season in Invercargill/Southland I easily won, in a margin of over 6 minutes to the second-place getter. My performance ensured I featured in an article in The Southland Times newspaper, and I as beginning to carve out a reputation as a formidable sportsman/athlete in our province of Southland, all at the age of 23. It was now onto 1987.
Photos:
1. 1986 Southland Senior Road Cycling Championship. Photo by Barry Harcourt. I am pictured riding my Moser with Suntour Superbe Pro components at the top of a crucial hill climb.
2. 1986 Southland Senior Road Cycling Championship. Southland Times newspaper article. I won the event in only my second season of competing as a road cyclist. I was 23.
3. 1986 Southland Senior Road Cycling Championship. Southland Times newspaper article. Apparently I won convincingly.
4. 1986 Southland Biathlon Season opening event. I won.
5. 1986 Rothmans Tour of Southland Day 1 Stage 3 Bluff Criterium. Right to left: Winner #1 Brian Fowler, I’m to his left #26.
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1987.
As I was now working at the Alliance Ocean Beach
Export Freezing Works that was seasonal [usually began around late September
and ended around May] I could use the off-season for sports training. I had
secured a sponsorship deal that helped lower the costs of participating in road
cycling. However, I was now also competing in biathlon, triathlon, and running.
Combine them all-together and the costs of participating and travelling was
expensive. I also had the costs of buying, registering, warranting, and
maintaining a motorcycle and a car. I was fortunate to still be living at home
with my parents though this could at times be challenging, and the situation
would change in 1988 as I was thinking about my O.E. [overseas experience, and
London beckoned]. You could say I was working to fund sport. I was now firmly
hooked into highly competitive amateur elite sport, and I was always
focused on improving performance. I was my own nutritionist, strength trainer,
sports psychologist, manager, and coach, although I was helped and guided
considerably by fellow Invercargill Cycling club member Wayne McLellan. He had
suffered serious head injuries in a devastating road cycling race crash in
Timaru the previous season 1986 and was forced to stop racing. He offered
invaluable advice on training and racing that I soaked up like a sponge.
I was able to go running
during the lunch time break at the Alliance Ocean Beach Export Freezing Works.
I believe I used every available opportunity of time I had during the day to
train for sport I competed in. Therefore 1987 was a year of training and competing.
I competed in the weekly ‘Mike Hughes’ sponsored Fun Run that was a 10km ‘fun
run’ that started and ended at Queens Park here in Invercargill every Thursday
evening around 6pm I think during the summer if I remember correctly. I
consistently featured in the top three placings and won several. I could crank
out a ‘10km’ road race around 33 minutes or slightly less given the weather
conditions and my fitness state. I have had the odd comment from fellow
competitors that due to there being a lack of marshals along the route, there
were instances where competitors had to use their initiative to navigate the
correct course route…some would debate whether this led to cheating i.e. taking
a ‘shortcut’, however I can hereby officially state I consistently followed
the rules of the race, and always stuck to the correct route. After the purpose
of the event was to have FUN!
I was contacted and asked if I wanted to be part of a three-person team to compete in the Southland Ironman Teams section. The team would be sponsored by NZI Finance. The team make-up consisted of Southland swimming sensation Karl Shepherd, another local well performing harrier Alan Coldicott, and I would be the cyclist. Karl led the event off with an excellent swim and either led it out of the water or was well up. I went into the cycle leg knowing our team was highly placed and either I was the first cyclist into the final running leg transition or again our team was highly placed. Finally, Alan Coldicott ran a blistering leg, and our team won the teams section in a time of 4 hours 29 minutes 58 seconds beating the second placed team by a margin of 3 and a half minutes. We all enjoyed a meal together to celebrate our well-earned victory. Our team photo featured in The Southland Times newspaper along with the results. This was a huge moment for me and my sporting career.
The same gentleman who had
contacted me to be part of the NZI Finance team in the Southland Ironman
approached me again in 1987, this time to be part of a two-person team that
would take part in the fourth annual 4ZA-Marist Triathlon held here in
Invercargill on Sunday 1st March. This was now a reputable triathlon
and some of New Zealand’s best triathletes from as far away as Auckland were
coming down to compete. The format for the team’s event was person one would
complete the swim and then half the distance of the cycling leg. Person two
would take over and complete the other half distance of the cycling leg and
then the run to the finish line. Get it? My teammate was a very successful
Southland representative swimmer by the name of Phillip Tomlins. I had heard of
Phil via the Southland sporting grapevine though hadn’t ever met him. In a
newspaper article preview we were mentioned as ‘being hard to beat’ in the
two-person team event. I wasn’t sure what Phil’s cycling level was however he
assured me he’d been ‘doing a bit’ and that was enough for me. He had a great
swim in the Oreti river and was the 3rd swimmer out and into the
cycle transition. I was then dropped off by car at the halfway mark in the
cycle leg and waited for Phil to arrive. He had a steady ride, and we were
positioned well up near the front of the race, when I took over and powered
into the next half. I felt good and caught up with the two leaders of the race
in the individual section and the three of us rode into the cycle-run
transition together. However, as I was feeling so good I put the hammer down
and gapped both individual competitors quickly in the 10km run. I crossed the
finish line first and therefore Phil and I easily won the two-person Teams
section by a margin of 5 minutes 32 seconds. We were stoked to win and even
surprised ourselves.
In the first biathlon
[run/cycle/run] of the 1987 season, organised by the Southland Triathlon
Association, I blitzed the field and received excellent headlines in an article
in the sports news section of The Southland Times newspaper. This event was held
on a Sunday, and the previous day I had recorded fastest time in a road cycling
race organised by the Glengarry Cycling Club, so it was an excellent weekend of
sporting success for me. There was a total of 5 biathlon races held over the
winter of 1987 and I was mentioned in the final preview article in The
Southland Times newspaper on Friday October 16. I would be competing against
one of the strongest triathletes in Southland and we had battled neck and neck
for the championship the previous year of 1986, and I was runner up on that
occasion. The Southland Biathlon Championship for 1987 consisted of a 5km
run/45km cycle/5km run held on Sunday October 18. There was a field of 32
entrants and although I performed well on the day, again I had to settle for
runner-up.
I enjoyed an excellent road
cycling season in 1987, performed well constantly placing in the top 3 of many
local races. The Invercargill Cycling Club I was a member of decided to break
with tradition and run its race programme during the summer of 1987 the idea
being to encourage cyclists to compete on the road during the warmer summer
period rather than the usual winter season. Also, there is more hours of
daylight in summer and that means cyclists can train for longer periods than in
winter with less daylight hours – daylight saving. The other cycling club
Glengarry chose to continue with the status quo and ran their road programme
during the winter opening in early May. Reading between the lines one can being
to understand how the amalgamation of both these clubs along with the Murihiku
Novice Wheeler club paved way for Cycling Southland to be formed in 1996…
There were 13 entries in the
1987 Southland Senior Road Cycling Championship event. I was the reigning
champion from 1986. My fellow Invercargill Cycling club member Garry Smith was
odds-on favorite to win the title as he had performed exceptionally well all
throughout 1987. I got mentioned in the race preview in the Southland Times
newspaper as a ‘determined rider and could test my younger fellow club member
over the hills of the gruelling Mataura circuit. It developed into a great
race, however this time I had to settle for runner-up [silver medal] and Garry
Smith took the title with an excellent commanding performance.
There were 48 entries for the 1987 Rothmans
Tour of Southland. I was entered again in the ‘B’ Grade in my second attempt at
the event. The was a total of 6 Southland riders entered in the ‘B’ Grade and I
was favoured to win it. The first day again consisted of 3 stages and by the
end of day one I was the leading ‘B’ Grade rider. I was able to pick up some
money during the tour by placing in the top 3 in a couple of stage prime sprints,
so my form was quite good. On the third day of the tour on Saturday October 10th
there was 3 stages; 7, 8, and 9. Unfortunately during stage 8 from Five Rivers
to Queenstown I get dropped through the Devil’s Staircase – this means I was no
longer in the peloton and lost quite a lot of time. The temperature in
Queenstown was freezing and snow covered the mountains. I was very despondent
about getting dropped from the peloton and considered pulling out of the event.
My handler asked me how I got dropped from the peloton and I explained it was
while nearing the top of some of the rolling hillier parts of the road on the
Devil’s Staircase when riders would accelerate over the top of the hill. I was
mainly inexperienced and was positioning myself in the wrong part of the
peloton or bunch of riders. My handler advised me to try and position myself
further up in the peloton or bunch or failing that try and somehow get in front
of the peloton or bunch before a hill and then as it ascended over the top it
would pick me up, but I would still be able to hang in with the peloton instead
of getting dropped. In theory his advice was correct. The final third stage of
the day, stage 9 from Queenstown to Arrowtown was only 32km and after listening
to my handler I decided to start the final stage of the day even though the
temperature was very cold.
My father took a couple of
photos of riders lined up at the start of stage 9 from Queenstown to Arrowtown
and you can see snow on the mountains and riders all wearing protective
clothing. I remember it being very cold. The stage started in Queenstown around
4.10pm on Saturday 10th October 1987. Riders made our way along
Robbins Road before turning left onto Gorge Road. We were now on our way to
Arthurs Point heading north. I could hear my handler’s advice in my ears ‘try
to get in front of the peloton before the hills start’, and so I casually
pulled out of the peloton to the right and while I never made a concerted
attack I slowly gained distance in front of it for a bit. I looked back after
about a kilometer and noticed there was quite a gap between me and the peloton,
so this time I decided to put more effort into pedalling and really went hard.
I dropped down into Arthur’s Point and then across the Edith Cavell Bridge over
the Shotover river and onto the Arthur’s Point Road climb. As I ascended the
climb I noticed another rider had joined me. By this stage the peloton could
not be seen, and a ‘gap’ had been created. This is effectively termed a ‘break’
in road cycling, where either a rider or riders have broken away from the main
peloton. The other rider and I talked to each other for a short time, and we
agreed to ‘work together and see what happens’. We each took turns as we lapped
it out at the front of the bike race. This continued all the way along
Malaghans Road until the course turned right into the Arrowtown-Lake Hayes
Road. By this stage we were working as hard as we could together and we never
once looked behind us. We somehow just felt something special was happening. As
we ascended the hill that climbs north up State Highway 6 from Lake Hayes my
fellow breakaway rider started pulling away from me slightly as he was a
better hill climber than I, I never panicked as I felt I was still riding well.
He glanced around to see me struggling and although he could have attacked me
and put further distance between us, instead he chose to ease off a bit so I
could catch up to him and together we continued again descending the hill.
We then were about to turn
left into McDonnell Road that leads into Arrowtown and as we hadn’t been caught
by the peloton we began wondering if our break could go all the way to the
finish line which would mean one thing – a stage WIN was up for grabs…As we
took turns lapping it out I wondered how strong my companion was on the flat
and I took some harder turns on the front to test the strength of the other
rider. I noticed he was slightly reluctant to come across me and take his turn
at the front. This could be an indication he was starting to fatigue, he was
slightly weaker in strength than me, or he was just mimicking fatigue and
weakness leading me into a false sense of security that I was the stronger
rider. We were now on the outskirts of Arrowtown, and it was looking like we
would be racing for the stage WIN as the peloton hadn’t caught us. The only
thing I was thinking of was how would I win the sprint to the finish line.
As the road leading into
Arrowtown was a slight decrease in gradient we were really starting to pick up
speed. Adrenaline was shooting through my entire body as we race along
Centennial Avenue onto Bedford Street, and I think my mind was racing with it and
all I was doing was going on instinct. We just kept increasing speed as the
gradient kept decreasing slightly and by now we were full-noise racing along
over the speed limit of 50km/hr. The road kinked to the left into Buckingham
Street and we could see the finish line approaching about 250m away, with about
150m I now cannot even remember who was leading but I can remember my fellow
competitor leaping out of his seat to begin sprinting for the line and I was
behind him, so he could have been leading. I immediately reacted to his charge
for the finish line, and I too leaped off the seat of my bike and began
sprinting as hard as I could in attempt to pull him back. I believe road
sprinting requires the combination of speed, power, and strength. Within split seconds
I was able to reel in my fellow breakaway rider and with all my speed, power,
and strength I just managed to edge past him and cross the finish line one bike
length clear to WIN the stage. I was so excited I lifted the front wheel off
the road twice in sheer utter joy. I had just won my first stage of the Tour of
Southland.
The rider who was in the
breakaway with me congratulated me and I discovered he was from Christchurch
and in the ‘A’ Grade. We both couldn’t believe we had ‘stayed away’ over the
32km stage without the peloton catching us. I was congratulated from friends
from Invercargill who had watched the stage finish, and my parents and sister
also came up to me and congratulated me and this meant so much. A local
Southlander winning a stage in the Tour of Southland is a big deal and I felt
immensely proud to win the stage for Southland more than myself. It was so
ironic that I won this stage because before the start I had been completely
dejected from getting dropped on the Devil’s Staircase section of the previous
stage 8 and wanted to pull out of the race. However, with the help of my
handler Wayne McLellan we formed a strategy that we believed would prevent me
from getting dropped. I never ever envisaged I would win the stage as I
originally believed the peloton would pull me back as we crested the hill climb
out of Arthur’s Point at the Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park – about 6km into
the stage. However, the peloton effectively had ‘let me go’ and only another
rider was allowed to jump up to join me. I hadn’t planned to attack at all,
rather jump off the front of the peloton so that as it ascended a hill it would
pick me up near the top and I wouldn’t get dropped. Now I had just won my first
stage in the Tour of Southland…an absolute nobody competing in the ‘B’
Grade…Nobody was more surprised than me. How did I achieve this stage win? With
the deepest respect, the peloton played a large part in my victory. As I was a
local, the peloton chose not to chase hard to catch the two-man breakaway that
I instigated. On the other hand, my breakaway companion and I worked to our
maximum performance to remain clear and stay away. We were on our maximum for
the entire stage distance of 32km, and we couldn’t have put any more effort
into our performance. I could analyse how I won this stage in lengthy detail,
however at the end of the day I didn’t even plan to win the stage, it just
eventuated. This is what makes the sport of road cycling so compelling, and so
exciting. Tactics and strategies can all go pear shape especially as it/they
did on stage 9 I had just won. Two almost nobody competitors had just beaten
some of New Zealand’s greatest road cyclists. Road cycling is a battle of wits.
It is chess on wheels. Sometimes a surprise attack can lead to all sorts of
confusion amongst the peloton as it did when I rode off the front after the
start of stage 9. Yes I hadn’t planned to attack the peloton, however after I
had slowly ridden away from the peloton, I realised it wasn’t chasing me, so it
was then I attacked and went for it. Another competitor had been allowed to
ride up to me, and together we went for it and that ‘was all she wrote’ until
we crossed the finishing line to win the stage. The peloton had underestimated
our potential while we maximized it. I ended up finishing runner-up in the ‘B’
Grade section on GC [general classification] for the 1987 Rothmans Tour of
Southland. A great result. It was now onto 1988.
Photos:
6. 1987 4ZA Marist Triathlon Southland Times newspaper result article.Phil Tomlins and I won the Teams Section.
7. 1987 Southland Ironman Teams Section winners. I was the cyclist and am at the left of the photo. Article featured in The Southland Times newspaper.
8. 1987 Southland Biathlon first event of season. I won easily. Article featured in The Southland Times newspaper.
9. 1987 Mike Hughes 10km Fun Run. I won! Southland Times newspaper.
10. 1987 Dunedin Road Cycling Race. I won! Newspaper article.
11. 1987 Southland Open 100km Road Cycling Race. I won Fastest Time and am pictured at the left in the photo that featured in The Southland Times newspaper.Photographer Barry Harcourt.
12. 1987 Rothmans Tour of Southland. Day 3. Stage 9 Queenstown to Arrowtown. Myself #37 at left broke away with Christchurch rider Michael McLister. Photographer Barry Harcourt.
13. 1987 Rothmans Tour of Southland. Day 3, Stage 9. Queenstown to Arrowtown. Finish in Arrowtown. I'm a left #37 and won my first Stage in the prestigious event. Photographer John McDonald.
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1988.
I made the decision to travel overseas on my O.E. [overseas experience] in July 1988 and headed to London after the killing season ended at Alliance Ocean Beach Freezing Works where I worked in the Smallgoods department. I did start the road cycling season well finishing in third place in the A Grade in the first race of the season the 1988 Southland DB Southland Road Cycling Series. However, prior to that I competed in the 1988 4ZA Marist Triathlon Teams Section again with fellow triathlete Phil Tomlins on Sunday 6th March. We were defending our win from the previous year 1987. 80 competitors lined up at the start. Our team manager Steve Wright lined up with Allan Strong in the Teams Section. Allan was an ex-Southland successful swimmer, who was also competing in road cycling and triathlon. Although they provided stern competition, Phil and I won the Teams Section for the second successive year with class in a record time of 1 hour 24 minutes 19 seconds. Allan went on to win the Open Men’s Individual Section and managed to break the three-year old record time as well. And that was it for 1988 – London beckoned…
Photos:
14. 1988 4ZA/Marist Triathlon Certificate. Phil Tomlins and I won the 2 person Teams Section for the second year in succession.
15. 1988 Southland Road Cycling DB Series. I placed third. Southland Times newspaper result.
16. 1988 Muddy Fox Mountain Bike. I bought this new in London and rode it everywhere. I imported it back to New Zealand.
1989.
When I was in London I set a
goal of returning to New Zealand and trying to place in the top ten of a New
Zealand Road Cycling Championship. I was now living in a flat with a fellow ex
Invercargill Rowing Club member and another flatmate. It was the perfect
environment for my lifestyle – competing in elite Southland sport while working
seasonal at the Alliance Ocean Beach Freezing Works. I felt on top of the world
that year 1989. When I was in London I had worked at Bike UK and test rode a
fat-tubed aluminium framed road racing bicycle – a ‘Cannondale’ and was very
impressed with the ride. I had never ridden an aluminium frame as I had always
ridden steel alloy framed road racing bikes. The aluminium frame was obviously
lighter in weight than a steel alloy frame, plus it tended to be more rigid or
stiff in feel in that there was no torsion at all when you accelerated out of
the seat with your legs pumping hard, and the angles in the frame were tighter,
meaning the bike entered and exited tight corners faster when criterium racing
– i.e. racing around a tight street circuit. This was advantageous over normal
steel alloy frames designed for long road racing. I made the decision to buy a
Cannondale for the new 1989 road cycling season. The frame was a Criterium
Series ‘SR500’ painted white. It was kitted in Suntour Superb Pro components,
with Mavic MP4 rims. It was the first Cannondale to be ridden in Southland so
was unique. Nobody else rode a Cannondale.
First up for 1989 was the
Southland Ironman event held on Sunday 24th February. I was part of
a 3 [three] person team entered in the Team’s section. I was the cyclist, Allan
Strong the swimmer, and Dave Hill the runner. Distances were swim 1.2 miles in
the Oreti river, cycle 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles or a half marathon. There were
30 entries in the individual event and 80 entries in the team’s event. It was a
quality field especially in the team’s event and our team won in an excellent
performance.
Next up was the 1989 4ZA
Marist Triathlon. I again partnered with Phil Tomlins in the 2 person Team
Section. We had won this two times in succession 1987, and 1988, so we were the
hot defending champions and favoured team to repeat our winning streak. The
individual event was an exciting battle between two outstanding triathletes
from Southland Mark Maynard and up and coming triathlon star Chris Gordon.
Chris had established a 2-minute lead heading into the final 10km running leg
until he bonked [muscle glycogen depletion] and lost all energy, slowed, and
this allowed Mark Maynard to catch and overtake him. Geoff Keenan also passed
Gordon. Maynard stormed home ahead of Keenan to win by just over 1 minute from
Keenan, and Gordon finished in third. Phil Tomlins and I totally stamped our
authority over the 2 person Team’s Section and recorded our third successive
win. This record was never beaten in this prestigious Triathlon.
Now it was onto the 1989
Road Cycling season. I had an outstanding season overall. Before I get into
this I am going to mention how much training I was doing during working at the
Alliance Ocean Beach Freezing Works where I was employed in the Smallgoods
department gluing cartons of product. There were some massive kill tallies
during the productive season of 1988-1989 and on many days 22-24,000 lambs and
2,000 ewes were processed in a day. My job meant I was on my feet all day
8am-4.30pm. On some Saturday mornings I cycled from Invercargill to Bluff where
we worked half a day 8am – mid day. On weekdays at the plant on most days I
would go running at lunch time. Over the 1 hour we had I could get a good run
in, shower, and have a small bit of food before being back in the Smallgoods
department ready for the meat to come down the chutes from the slaughter board.
Occasionally for exercise at lunch time I would ‘do the stairs’.
This workout involved
running as fast as you could up an external/outside flight of concrete stairs
that led to the Ocean Beach Butcher Shop. The number of stairs allowed a runner
to have a good workout as once you reached the top you could enter inside for a
few steps before turning round and running down/descending the stairs. This was
HIIT ‘High intensity interval training’ where your heart rate and lungs were
working at near maximal output and your leg muscles were put to the test. In
other words, it was a hard workout. One time I was about to ‘do the stairs’ at
lunch time and another worker at the meat plant joined me. But this wasn’t just
any average worker. This was Otago Highlanders Super Rugby Championship, Otago
and Southland provincial rugby representative, and New Zealand All Blacks
representative Paul ‘Ginge’ Henderson who played in the flanker openside
position #7 on the side of the scrum in the forwards. There is so much to
admire about Paul Henderson. He’s an original ‘Bluffy’ – his family come from
the Bluff – there are two port towns in Southland, one is Riverton and the
other is Bluff. These towns tend to produce outstanding rugby players. All the
three Henderson brothers played rugby and youngest Dave captained Southland for
several years, so the family is synonymous with sporting success. Southland has
produced several All-Black loose forward flankers over its history including
Ken Stewart, Leicester Rutledge, and Paul Henderson. The reasons for this are
worth studying. I wonder if it is to do with the proud farming
heritage/tradition of the Southland province and the mobility of farmers who
brave all weathers to tend to stock and pastures. These men are resilient in
the face off all kinds of adversity, and this shines through in their sporting
potential. I admired Paul greatly and knew he was a fiercely courageous player
who captained the All Blacks once against Japan at the 1995 Rugby World Cup
Championship. We greeted each other as we knew each other and went at ‘the
stairs’ together. I have never forgotten that workout at that lunch time. We
somehow fed off each other and pushed each other to go harder and harder. It
ended up being the workout from hell. We were both utterly exhausted at the end
of the stairs workout that lunch time at Ocean Beach Freezing Works and swore
we’d never repeat it. I think for the rest of the afternoon in the Smallgoods
department I said very little and suffered in fatigue until the end of the day.
Whenever Paul ‘Ginge’ Henderson and I see each other that nightmare stair lunch
time workout at the Alliance Ocean Beach Freezing Works always seems to pop up
in conversation. We were both extremely competitive Southland representative
sportsmen and on that lunchtime stairs workout we took each other to the limit
of our human performance, Paul was a far bigger and heavier athlete than I –
you couldn’t get much more contrasting builds – he weighed around 90kg and
stood six-foot tall, whereas I weighed 70kg and stood 5ft 8in/172cm in tall…we were
crazy!
Buses transported workers
from Invercargill down to the Ocean Beach Freezing Works and return each day.
Some buses originally belonged to Bluff Motors, and these were the Bedford
model buses of which I was somewhat familiar with having served my automotive
engineering apprenticeship maintain Bedford and Isuzu brand trucks and buses
from ’82-’85 at GWD Russell Ltd truck shop in Bay Road Invercargill. The Bedford
bus I am referring to is the SB3 Series and these were originally in service at
ex-New Zealand Railways Road Services [NZRRS] for many years gracing highways
in New Zealand. It would be fair and reasonable to suggest they were basic
buses, non-luxurious, and didn’t reach high speeds.
One Saturday morning I made
the decision I would ride my racing bicycle down to the Ocean Beach Freezing
works from James Street in Invercargill where I was living in a 3-bedroom
flat/house. The weather was appropriate, dry, not too windy, and mild temperatures
as it would have been summer going on autumn. I can remember heading along
Elles Road south where the road joins up with Bluff Highway
– State Highway 1 heading south. As I rounded the corner I spotted an Ocean
Beach Bedford SB3 Series bus pulling out from the side of the Bluff Highway –
State Highway 1 heading south to the Freezing Works – it must have picked up a
worker/s who would have been standing waiting for the bus to arrive and pick
them up to take them down to Ocean Beach Freezing Works. The timing of the bus
pulling out onto State Highway 1 meant I was able to ride my bike in the slipstream of the bus – that is I positioned myself at the rear of the Bedford SB3
Series bus, about 2-3 meters from the back of the bus and get full advantage
of the slipstreaming effect. These buses couldn’t usually go faster than
around 80km/hr…and as the bus kept increasing in speed I was easily able to
keep pace with it…to begin with…however as it got up to a higher speed I had to
click the rear hub gear cluster of my bike into top gear [a huge gear] in order
to be able to keep in the slipstream of the bus and my quadriceps muscles were
burning with the effort, but I was able to keep in the slipstream of the bus.
By now the bus would have
cruising along at around 70-80km/hr and I was really going for it to keep up, my
legs pumping the pedals of my racing bike furiously. A worker was now looking
at me through the rear window of the bus. Suddenly another worker joined him,
then another and they couldn’t believe a cyclist was slipstreaming behind the
bus – around 2 meters from the rear of the bus – or very close to the rear of
the bus. The point I am trying to make here is that the distance is crucial,
because if you get out of the slipstreaming effect then the vehicle simply
pulls away from you and all slipstreaming is lost. The gap between myself and
the rear of the bus was minimal – 2 meters or less. It could have even been 1
meter or less. There is no room for error at higher speeds, or in other words
the bus cannot brake suddenly or decelerate suddenly because that could have
led to a nasty accident, so my reflexes had to be cat like and instantaneous so
I could apply the brakes quickly to avoid hitting the rear of the bus. In track
cycling the term is motor-pacing whereby a cyclist positions themselves
directly at the back of the motorised bike called a ‘derny’ – the derny has a
roller wheel at the back of the rear wheel so that if the front wheel of a
rider touches it, it spins and doesn’t cause the front wheel of the cyclist’s
bike to skid thus avoiding a crash. But there was no such piece of specialized
track cycling equipment on the back of the bus…At this stage all the workers
watching me in the back seat of the bus were cracking up laughing. I was a
skilled road cyclist at that stage of my career and my reflexes were catlike
quick and I was able to slip stream behind the Bedford SB3 Series bus all the
way to Bluff. I believe I hold the record for the fastest one-way time between
Invercargill and Ocean Beach Freezing Works at around 15-18 minutes.
When I was in London in 1988
I bought some quality new road cycling shoes. I had admired Irish professional
road cyclists Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly. I bought the same shoe model brand
that Stephen Roche wore, Vittoria, and sure enough no other cyclist wore them
on the local road cycling scene in 1989 – I wore unique cleats! A note on road
cycling equipment. Make no error it is an expensive sport. In some ways it is
as expensive as you want to make it. Put it this way, if you want to buy the
best in equipment, usually it will be the most expensive. Sometimes the most
expensive isn’t always the best – in my humble opinion. There is also quite a
difference in the standard between professional and amateur road cycling.
Especially in Europe where professional road cycling is a key sport. Nowadays
the Tour de France is a multi-million-dollar event. While I only competed at
the top end of amateur road cycling in New Zealand, the standard was high
especially in the Tour of Southland. As far as equipment goes I couldn’t afford
to buy the most expensive and instead I tended to buy the next tier down brand
equipment that did the job perfectly for me. I am not going to go into detail
suffice to say road cycling has a fashionable element to it, that while I take
an interest in, I don’t necessarily follow…the best way to describe this is I
love the Kinks rock group song ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ from 1965 as it
says it all. I wore and used what was practical more than what looked good. I
forged that attitude when I rowed for the Invercargill Rowing Club from 1981 to
1986. It was a sport founded on practicality and teamwork. Which is probably
why I gravitated to it. I discovered road cycling was completely the opposite
in that it tended to be individual and although that was probably what I needed
at the time I transitioned to it, the sport did have its fair share of fashion-conscious
competitors. Did the new Vittoria cycling shoes, the same that professional
Irish road cyclist Stephen Roche wore, I bought in London in 1988 produce
results for me in 1989? You bet!
I got fastest time in the
prestigious 1989 Murray McLeay Memorial Southland Engineering 100km handicap
race. A field of 54 riders including several from Otago, and stalwart Alan Dunn
who came from Australian to ride for his old club Glengarry. I placed 3rd
in our Invercargill Cycling Club Road Championships senior category after
crashing and recovering. I won the A Grade category in a massed start local
race around the Tisbury-Waimatua circuit in cold and blustery weather
conditions; it was an excellent performance. In the 1989 Southland Road Cycling
Championships held over the gruelling Mataura circuit I managed to secure the
bronze medal finishing in 3rd place in the senior category. I was
selected to represent Southland, along with winner and fellow Invercargill
Cycling Club competitor Garry Smith to compete at the New Zealand Road Cycling
Championships in Auckland.
I was entered in the ‘A’
Grade in the 1989 Rothmans Tour of Southland, a step up from competing in the
‘B’ Grade in 1986, and 1987. That was probably due to the increase in my form
over 1988 and 1989. The programme usually lists rider’s numbers in ranking for
the tour. I was #27 in an A Grade field of 34 and a ‘B’ Grade field of 17
riders – so a total of 52 riders overall. The two favourites for the race were
Brian Fowler from Christchurch and Graeme Miller from Auckland. Remember it was
still officially an individual race back then. Brian Fowler readily admitted leading
a ‘combo’ of riders who raced as a team so Brian would be able to win the tour.
It was almost impossible for an individual rider to win the Tour Of Southland
on their own. They needed help at various stages to either defend or attack the
race so they could win. This meant the race was therefore unofficially a team’s
race. It has always been like that. Because I rode the race as an individual my
views are from an individual point of view. Although officially it is an
individual race, it is impossible to police it. Therefore, team riding cannot
be stopped legally. Brian Fowler merely exploited the rules and who wouldn’t if
you were able to be able to. There is a saying ‘if you can’t beat them join
them’. Because I wasn’t categorised as one of New Zealand’s leading road
cyclists I wasn’t ever going to win the Tour of Southland. However, that
doesn’t mean I couldn’t still perform to the best of my ability and be very
competitive against the leading contenders such as Brian Fowler and Graeme
Miller. I wasn’t against combo’s or team tactics used during the event; however,
it did influence the outcome of the event. It made it more difficult for
individual riders to win money from sprints on offer during stages as combo
riders desperately wanted to win their fair share of the money up for grabs in
the race.
I went into the 1989
Rothmans Tour of Southland with some good local form. This came to the fore on
the very first day during Stage 2 from Wallacetown Tavern down to Bluff and the
famous climb up Bluff Hill finish. About 5km into Stage 2 the rain started
pelting down, it was very cold, and a wind had was blowing that led to many
riders who weren’t used to riding in colder wetter weather conditions going
into their shells and the pace of the race slowed. In these situations, some
riders see a red traffic light, while other riders see a green traffic light.
As the rain and colder temperatures didn’t bother me much I tended to see a
green light and I cannot believe that I attacked the entire peloton after it
slowed due to the weather along Otatara Road on the outskirts of Invercargill.
I just went for it and rode as hard and fast as I could.
My attack allowed me to stay
out in front of the race and win the Snow-White Dairy Sprint prime at the
16.6km mark and pocket $80 for my effort. I was still out in front of the bike
race alone until suddenly two other riders had broken clear of the peloton and
rode up to join me. The riders were Peter Harding from Auckland, and fellow
Southland junior cyclist Andrew Barlow who I admired as an up-and-coming road
cyclist, he was more renown as a good track cyclist and had become a road
cyclist as well. I always had a saying: ‘If you want to be a good track
cyclist, first become a good road cyclist. If you want to be a good road
cyclist, first become a good track cyclist. If you want to be an excellent
cyclist then be good at both road and track cycling’. We three riders were now
approaching Invercargill where we’d turn right onto Clyde Street and State
Highway 1 on our way down to Bluff. The next sprint prime was the RTL Signs
Sprint at 28km into the Stage. We had officially broken away from the peloton
and gained a minute or so advantage. Andrew Barlow won the sprint prime, and I
got 3rd pocketing $50. We were all committed to the break now and
all taking turns at the front. The next sprint prime was the Aldon Motors
Sprint at 23km, and I won that pocketing $40. Peter Harding from Auckland won
the next Clifton Motors sprint prime at 28km and won $25, while I got 3rd
and pocketed $10. The next sprint prime was the Wilson Neil Sprint at 30km, and
I won a $25 Trophy. The next sprint prime was the Woodchips Export Tokanui at
32km and I got 3rd pocketing $10. The next sprint prime was the
Southland Phosphate Sprint at 33km and won that pocketing $25. The next sprint
prime was the Foveaux Dairy Sprint in Bluff at 48km, and I got 3rd
and pocketed $10. The final sprint prime for the stage was the Bluff R.S.A.
Sprint and I got 3rd pocketing $10. By this point most of the
chasing bunch of riders had caught up myself and Andrew Barlow – I can remember
running very low on energy as the rear gear cluster wasn’t correct and I had to
push too higher gear on the way down to Bluff. The Auckland rider Peter Harding was a very experienced road
cyclist and had tended to ride through the softest while taking laps down to
Bluff. This enabled him to save a lot of energy, and he went on to win the
stage that finished at the top of Bluff Hill.
Before the start of Stage 7
in Winton on Saturday 14th October 1989, my handler Wayne McLellan got talking
with fellow Southland junior rider Andrew Barlow’s father Stuart. They wondered
if Andrew and I should ‘attack from the gun’ -meaning that as soon as the
starter started the Stage at 8.30am we sprint from the get-go and ride as hard
and as fast was possible could sustain to see if could make a break from the
peloton, rather than merely riding off slowly as is the usual protocol. As it
was early start 8.30am it would be a bit of a ‘surprise attack’ as most riders
would be expecting a slower start from the previous days racing. Sometimes such
tactics work because by the time the peloton gathers itself together, the
surprise attacking riders have ‘stolen-a-march’ and been able to put some time
on the peloton. My handler Wayne informed me had been talking with Stuey Barlow
and that I should attack with fellow Southland rider Andrew Barlow from the
start of the stage at 8.30am. ‘You never know it might work’ said Wayne. I
thought it was a long shot however as Andrew and I were part of the three rider
break away during Stage 2, I knew Andrew was a good rider and more than capable
of riding hard with me even though he was a junior.
When riders were asked to
assemble at the start line for an 8.30am start I began looking for Andrew,
found him, and talked briefly with him about our plan. Then as soon as the
started shouted ‘GO!’ at 8.30am, both Andrew and I sprinted away together from
the rest of the field only to find another rider had spotted us sprinting for
all we were worth and had managed to latch on to us. By this time Andrew and I
were riding as hard and fast as we possibly could in the biggest gear of our
cluster, our leg quadriceps muscles screaming in pain as we desperately
attempted to break away from the entire peloton of the Tour of Southland. We
never looked back for what seemed like an eternity and when we did lo and
behold another rider had joined us. The good thing was though, the peloton
wasn’t chasing us down and this was now another three rider break away in the
Tour of Southland! I couldn’t believe our good fortune, so now we had to settle
down and lap it out at the front of the bike race for as long as we could – it
was 73km to Mossburn. The third rider in our break away was #21 Phillip Leigh
who came all way over from England to ride the Tour of Southland. We were
working well together all taking laps when prior to Lumsden, officials made the
decision to stop the race because of road works. This meant the stage would
continue further on up the road past the road works. Officials told us the
break would still be allowed to continue and so when the stage was restarted
the time gap that had been established when the stage was stopped would be the
same. We break riders would be started and then the peloton would start after
the time gap that existed when the race was stopped – about 2-3 minutes from
memory. The distance from Lumsden to Mossburn is 20km. This final stretch of
the stage 7 would really test our three-man breakaway I was part of. We were
getting regular time gaps back to the peloton and we were holding it at bay
steadily. Our turns at the front lapping it out began to test the strength of our
fitness. I detected an ever so slight weakening in the English rider Leigh.
Fellow Southland junior rider Andrew Barlow although not missing turns at the
front also showed an ever so slight chink in his armour.
The Lumsden to Mossburn
stretch of highway we were riding on is very exposed to the cross winds and on
that morning temperatures were lower, and our breakaway was getting put to the
sword. There was a total of six [6] sprint primes during the stage and although
it is ethical to share the money up for grabs for first, second, and third
places. Andrew Barlow had won the first three meaning he’d picked up a lot of
prize money and after all the 6 sprint primes had been contested Andrew had won
$110, Leigh $85, and myself $75, so as our breakaway hadn’t been caught by the
chasing peloton, we were going to fight it out for the stage win and major placings
amongst us. I knew Andrew had won the first three sprint primes and therefore a
majority of the prize money up for grabs, therefore I was deeply motivated to
win the stage. I wondered how much energy he had used winning those three
sprint primes plus he was a junior and would have expended a lot of energy
lapping it out in our three-man breakaway. Phillip Leigh was a mystery although
I felt he did weaken slightly during lapping it out in our breakaway. I made
the decision to play poker as we prepared for the sprint finish into Mossburn,
I knew I was strong, felt good, and was highly motivated to beat Andrew as he
had held a mortgage on the first three sprint primes of the stage.
I positioned myself last in
the line of three, Andrew was in front of me, and Phillip chose to lead the
sprint out. However, it soon became apparent that Phillip didn’t have the
‘legs’ in the sprint and Andrew soon passed him, it was now between he and I as
the finishing line rapidly approached. I had to pull out everything in my body
to pull even with Andrew and with millimetres left to the line we both pushed
our bikes across the line. In such close sprints riders usually know who gets
across the finishing line first and I felt I had beaten Andrew albeit by the
slimmest of margins. The peloton charged over the finishing line with a short
gap between our three-man breakaway. The breakaway had stolen a march on the
1989 Tour of Southland field. Naturally both Andrew and I were eagerly awaiting
the judges call on who won the stage. The was quite a delay meaning it was
close. The anticipation of the result of who would win seemed to take forever.
One thing that was clear is that a Southlander had won…it was a matter of which
one. After an agonising wait the judges made their decision. I had won Stage 7
from Winton to Mossburn. I couldn’t believe my good fortune although I felt I
had done enough to win my second stage in the Tour of Southland. I was elated.
There was a little controversy as Andrew’s support team believed he had won.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day the judges decision was final, and I was
upheld as Stage 7 winner. I remember clambering my way over to my parent’s car,
a cream coloured 1986 Mitsubishi Sigma station wagon parked near the finishing
line and my mother helping me lift my cycling jersey and undergarment off me as
I was completely exhausted and cold. My body-fat percentage was low in 1989
less than 10%, somewhere around 7-8% from memory. Once I had changed into
warmer clothing we drove to the local Mossburn Hotel-Tavern and warmed up for a
bit and began preparing for the next Stage 8 from Five Rivers through to
Queenstown 95km starting at midday 12.00pm. A note here if I may on my handler
Wayne McLellan. He had organised our winning break before the start of the
stage. He had also previously mentored me prior to me winning my first stage in
1987. There must be a common denominator going on here. If it wasn’t for Wayne
I never would have won 2 stages in the Tour Of Southland. He is a wise owl when
it comes to road cycling, and I am indebted to him for his help. I would now
like to dedicate winning both stages to Wayne McLellan.
I was never going to be a
G.C. [general classification] rider in the Tour of Southland as passive riding
tactics and I are enemies that just don’t get along. It is a fair and
reasonable assumption I didn’t have a great level of patience in those days and
tended to be an aggressive rider when it came to tactics. Other riders knew
this and some exploited it. In my third Tour of Southland, I began to carve out
a reputation that I wasn’t just willing to sit in the peloton and passively
become a passenger. I was determined to make my mark in the race and believe to
a small extent I did. I respected my fellow competitors and admired Brian
Fowler for his courage, tenacity, entrepreneurship, and toughness. I came into
road cycling quite late at the age of 22 after transitioning from rowing.
Another rower who would do this is ex-Waihopai rower Daniel Blain. I helped him
during his road cycling career. He competed in the 2003 Tour of Southland and
finished in 69th place on G.C. You may recognise the next rower who
competed in the Tour Of Southland, he is multiple Olympic Games rowing Champion
Hamish Bond. He too competed in the Tour of Southland and finished second on
G.C. [general classification] twice, in 2016 and 2018, outstanding
achievements. He won the penultimate stage, the individual time trial in the
2018 Tour of Southland. Therefore, I can perhaps lay claim to being the only
rower who transitioned to compete in the Tour of Southland and won 2 stages…
That concludes 1989 and it was now onto 1990.
Photos:
17. 1989 4ZA/Marist Triathlon Certificate. Phil Tomlins and I won the 2 person Teams Section for the third year in succession. It was a record no other team achieved.
18. 1989 4ZA/Marist Triathlon Certificate. Phil Tomlins and I won the 2 person Teams Section for the third year in succession. It was a record no other team achieved.
19. 1989 4ZA/Marist Triathlon Certificate. Phil Tomlins and I won the 2 person Teams Section for the third year in succession. It was a record no other team achieved.
20. 1989 Southland Road Cycling Race I won! Southland Times newspaper article.
21. 1989 Murray McLeay Memorial Road Race 100km. I won Fastest Time. Newspaper article.
22. . 1989 Murray McLeay Memorial Race 100km. I won Fastest Time and and pictured first here as I cross the finish line. Photographer Barry Harcourt.
23. 1989 Rothmans Tour of Southland Day 1 Stage 2 Wallacetown to Bluff Hill. Breakaway riders. I instigated the breakaway and am pictured at left #26. #37 is junior rider Andrew Barlow from Southland, and #16 is Auckland rider Peter Harding who won the Stage. It was raining heavily and cold temperatures. This photo featured in The Southland Times newspaper. Photographer Barry Harcourt.
24. 1989 Rothmans Tour of Southland Day 3 Stage 9 Individual Time Trial Shotover Resort to Arrowtown 13km. It was very cold.
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1990.
I made the decision to
commit to compete in Triathlon as an individual for 1990. The first event was
the 1990 Southland Ironman held on Sunday 18th March. Entries were
down on previous years and left a small but select field of 25 for the 2km
swim, 90km bike ride, and 21.1km run. The Southland Times newspaper preview, included
favourites past winner Mark Crowther, reigning champion Mark Maynard, and top
cyclist myself. This was my first Ironman as an individual. I had an average
swim and was left to chase Mark Crowther for a long time on the cycle leg as he
had an almost 2-minute lead and I only managed to haul him in around Dacre with
about 24km left to ride. I glanced over and noticed he wasn’t using cycling
shoes and instead was wearing a pair of running shoes. This would have been
slightly disadvantageous for him. We rode semi-side by side until I surged to
see if I could drop him, but he just responded and pulled me back. I made
several other attempts until finally he glanced over at me, then clicked his
gears into a huge gear that almost saw his legs come to a standstill, and then
he leaped out of the seat of his bike and attacked me. I could barely believe
what I was seeing as he was wearing running shoes not cycling shoes that was
disadvantageous for him. It was the best piece of sporting psychology I had
ever seen in my sporting career and his move destroyed me as I was both
physically and mentally destroyed by trying to attack him with my surges. He
simply drifted off into the distance while I was left the crumbs and it felt
worse than a girlfriend leaving me arm in arm with another guy at a party, I
swear I almost cried. I was then riding through Woodlands and was by now
mentally distraught and felt like I was a protagonist in an Arnold
Schwarzenegger Terminator flick about to suffer an horrific death when another
cyclist I knew from the Invercargill Cycling Club John Alabaster caught me and
passed me as though I was standing still. That was the final straw and all I
could do was merely suck it up and suffer as best as I could until the final
leg the half marathon started at the transition point at the Ascot Park Hotel.
It is fair and reasonable to suggest my transitions during triathlon weren’t
the fastest, and some would say I could’ve had a cup of tea and a scone during
them they were tragically that slow, however I began the half marathon thinking
I may be able to pull out a good one. Within only a few kilometers that dream
turned into a nightmare and my pace slowed considerably. And it never recovered
and by halfway I had bonked to the point I was walking. My Ironman had become
my nightmare. My muscles were completely glycogen depleted. I had run out of
fuel. I recovered although walked/ran/walked/ran slowly to the finish. I was
devastated at my poor performance in finishing 5th in the Men’s Open
as an individual in the Southland Ironman and vowed I would improve.
The annual Arrowtown to
Queenstown Half Marathon was held on Easter Sunday 15th April 1990
and I lined up wanting to perform well. Weather was beautiful, not a cloud in
the sky and a crisp cooler autumn morning greeted runners. I began steady and
felt good. Just after the halfway mark I spotted a male figure in front of me
not too far in the distance, that looked very familiar. His running gait and
trademark all black triathlon suit was unmissable for me. I knew who it was
instantly, and I slowly began hauling him in. The last time I saw Mark
Crowther was in the 1990 Southland Ironman about a month ago, and on that
occasion he had demolished me as if I was a marshmallow brick and he was a
miner wielding a psychotic pickaxe. He single-handedly destroyed me both psychologically
and physiologically in the stroke of athleticism I have never forgotten to this
day. Therefore, you could say I was motivated when I recognised his distinctive
running gait and all-black triathlon suit in front of me. A word on this
incredible athlete. Mark Crowther was an ex-Southland Boys High School pupil –
the same school All-Black Paul Henderson and both his brothers carved out their
prowess at. The school has a proud recorded history of sporting achievement and
academia. Mark owned Gold’s Gym located in Leet Street Invercargill. It was a
thriving pumping gym and Mark owned it, managed it, and was its best aerobics
instructor who had a fearsome reputation of challenging classes – anyone who
completed an aerobics class instructed by Mark knew they had completed a
workout they would never forget. Mark played senior rugby for the Invercargill
Blues rugby team. On occasions games when games were played at Oreti Park, 10
km from Invercargill city, Mark ran home after the game ended. No other player
accompanied him because they were too fatigued. Not Mark. His physique defied
logic when it came to triathlon. Because he also competed in bodybuilding. He
was mainly renown as a body builder in Invercargill. And what a physique he
developed. He and I had similar philosophies to sport – fitness is a key
factor. He took fitness into the stratosphere when it came to standards.
However, it is his courage and determination coupled with a charismatic
personality that I admire most. He oozes passion for life, and I don’t know of
many athletes with the same vitality, and most importantly he will talk to
anybody. I believe Mark is also ahead of his time.
I passed Mark in the 1990
Arrowtown to Queenstown half marathon around the halfway mark and even though
the race wasn’t over, I knew it too was the same psychological blow he had
dealt me in the Southland Ironman, and I didn’t see him again. The respect we
have for each other defines our relationship. Sure, while I trained at the
Invercargill Y.M.C.A. during the winter, I knew Mark was training equally hard
at his beloved Gold’s Gym. He remains one of the most respected Southland
athletes I am privileged to know. It was the 9th half-marathon I was
competing in that Easter. It turned out to be the second fastest of all when I
crossed the finish line in Camp Street Queenstown in 15th place, 1
hour 15 minutes 11 seconds. I was elated with my performance. However, this event would be the last time I would ever
run as an able-bodied athlete.
Early on in 1990 I competed
in the 1990 Southland Times Cycling Criterium race. The race was around a short
circuit in the Invercargill CBD and some hot cyclists competed in the event
sponsored by The Southland Times newspaper. For example, on the entry list
were, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and local Glenn McLeay, another
Commonwealth Games gold medallist from Dunedin then Glen Thompson, and local
brothers Garry and Mark Smith, and Andrew Barlow whom I had formed two
successful breakaways with in the Tour of Southland. Essentially the field was
packed with championships cyclists. A criterium is a thrilling and exciting
bike race and I had the ideal bike frame suited for the event, a Cannondale
Criterium Series SR500. The race is designed for high-speed exciting riding as
riders enter and exit right angle corners i.e. 90-degree corners that allow
riders to lean their bikes over at maximum angles, for me there is no other
road bike race that generates so much adrenaline, excitement, thrills, and
above all else, speed. In this race it was 30 or so laps of a 1 km circuit. Earlier
in the race once riders warmed up, both McLeay and Thompson attempted
breakaways however the field knew not to let such talented, skilled, and
experienced riders ‘get away’ – and they were soon reeled back into the
peloton. Tactics/strategies in any bike race are crucial for a successful
outcome of the winner. As I was riding well and had form, I braided my time
earlier on in the race because the field was stacked with skilled and
experienced track and criterium cyclists – everything I wasn’t. One thing in my
favour was my bike – it was specifically designed for criterium racing as the
angles in the frame were tighter than an orthodox road bike. Such tighter
angles mean the bike is generally more agile than orthodox road bikes and that
means the bike can enter and exit corners faster, in theory. Also, because the
frame is constructed of aluminium alloy it is stiffer than steel alloy and
means instant force application when a rider accelerates, there’s no delay or
hesitation, and again all this leads to a faster performance. As I had
experience riding both steel alloy and aluminium alloy framed bikes I can
testify I preferred the aluminium alloy frame. I believe the aluminium alloy
frame Cannondale was far superior to a steel alloy frame in criterium racing.
I strategically attacked the
peloton as soon as the second breakaway had been reeled in during the Southland
Times Cycling Criterium race. I believed my timing was perfect. I gambled the
peloton might be a little fatigued from chasing the two initial breakaways
containing the Commonwealth Games gold medallists and it would be hesitant in
chasing me because I wasn’t a track rider nor was I a seasoned criterium
specialist. About a lap after I made my attack another rider from the peloton
attacked on caught me. It was Mark Spessot, an Australian who’s brother was
Mark Spessot an Australian Commonwealth Games cycling sprinter. Mark was racing
in Otago/Dunedin at the time. We lapped it out evenly and I believed he was a
strong rider. A chasing bunch including Commonwealth Games gold medallists Glen
McLeay and Glen Thompson, brothers Garry and Mark Smith came within 5 seconds
of Spessot and I, however, couldn’t catch us. We were racing so hard together
we caught the peloton with 3 laps remaining. The winner of the race was going
to be between Mark Spessot and me. I knew I had to position myself for the
sprint to the finish behind a fast sprinter in the peloton and chose Jared
Stock, an excellent sprinter and at the time was a member of rival club
Glengarry With barely a lap to go I was stuck like glue to Jared’s back wheel.
My plan was working like clockwork. Adrenaline was shooting through my veins
like an out-of-control bushfire in the Australian outback as I couldn’t believe
my good fortune to be in contention of winning this criterium A Grade race that
contained Commonwealth Games track cycling gold medallists. As Jared exited the final right angle corner
at high speed, I was able to leap out of the saddle of my Cannondale Criterium
Series SR500 bike, past Jared and began my sprint to the finishing line, I was
on the max sprinting for all I was worth as the finishing line appeared. Then
with split seconds to go another cyclist flashed past me as if I was standing
still to win the race. It was Australian visitor Mark Spessot from Dunedin. I
couldn’t believe it. Bridesmaid yet again. However, I had ridden the race of my
life and although second place is the first loser, overall, I was elated with
my outstanding performance. I had instigated the winning breakaway, and
although not winning, had beaten some of the finest bike riders in New Zealand.
Although this event would be the last time I would ever race as an able-bodied
cyclist.
My life was as good as it
could ever have been in 1990. Midway through April workers at the Alliance
Ocean Beach Freezing Works in Bluff including me were suspended because of
industrial action by the Ocean Beach Sub Branch of the New Zealand Meat Workers
Union. Yet again plant management and the Ocean Beach Sub Branch of the New
Zealand Meat Workers Union were at loggerheads over conditions. Ocean Beach was
conceived in controversy in 1891, and its history has always been chequered –
of which I wasn’t aware of when I began my employment there in 1985. I attended
several ‘shed meetings’ when I worked at Ocean Beach where union officials
informed or addressed workers of situations that developed between the ‘company’
and the ‘union’ who represented the workers. I discovered how these ‘shed
meetings’ ticked and it didn’t take me too long to work out striking or any
other method of the union used to try and influence the company to do what the
union wanted never worked in favour of the workers. I felt we, the workers,
were simply bargaining fodder, a political football.
In 1984 Southland Times news
journalist Michael Turner authored the book ‘One Muff Too Tough’ the story of
his investigation into the 1984 inquiry into an election and irregularities in
the handling of a $250,000 strike fund at Ocean Beach. The power accrued by the
union boss under the former management can explain why – like lambs to the
slaughter – a whole workforce nearly signed their own redundancy notices. I
believe the hangover from this existed for many years including 1990 and the
latest dispute between the company and the union.
My father owned and directed
his printing company Copy Services Ltd in Devron Street Invercargill. I had
talked to him about being on suspension from Ocean Beach and he suggested I
come in and help as he had a staff member who had worked for him for many years
leave. I took over from where the staff member had left and I enjoyed the work.
I began wondering if I should leave Ocean Beach at the end of the season and
begin working in my father’s printing business. It was an ideal
situation/opportunity. I could work a full 40-hour week. For triathlon training
the Connon Street Pool was only a couple of blocks away and I could get a swim
in there at lunch time. All the ducks began lining up.
On Friday 27th April I had finished working at my father’s printing business and rode my mountain bike to the post office to drop off some mail. As I was about to ride home to our flat in James Street I saw my flatmate riding his bike along the street and I yelled out to him. He stopped and we talked for a bit before I asked him if he would like to go a local watering hole for a beer before we rode home to the flat. He agreed and went to the Wool Bar at the bottom of the Grand Hotel and enjoyed a couple of beers before we rode home. That evening he had a few friends come round to the flat and we watched a music concert together on TV. A friend dropped in to see me as well. Later around 10.45pm I made the decision to go for a ride on my motorcycle a 1985 Kawasaki GPX 750 Ninja. This was a mistake. At around 11pm I lost control and fell off my motorcycle at high speed on an open stretch of highway on the outskirts of Invercargill after failing to take a bend.
Photos:
25. 1990 Southland Ironman Certificate. I competed in the Open Men's Individual section and placed 5th. My final race as an able-bodied Ironman.
26. 1990 4ZA/Marist Triathlon. I competed in the Open Men's Individual section and placed 3rd, an an excellent result.
26.1. 1990 4ZA/Marist Triathlon. I competed in the Open Men's Individual section and placed 3rd, an an excellent result.
26.2. 26.2. 1990 4ZA/Marist Triathlon. I competed in the Open Men's Individual section and placed 3rd, an an excellent result. Bike/run transition.
26.3. 1990 4ZA/Marist Triathlon placegetters. I am at left and placed third in the Open Men's Individual section. Winner Mark Crowther is in the center, and second place Alan Strong is at right. Southland Times newspaper article. My final race as an able-bodied triathlete.
27. 1990 Easter Arrowtown to Queenstown Half Marathon. I placed 15th and finished in a time of 1 hour 15 minutes 11 seconds, an excellent performance. I was 26. This was my final race as an able-bodied athlete.
1990 Southland Times Criterium road cycling event. This event was raced in the Invercargill CBD and featured two Commonwealth Games track cyclists who won gold medals. I rode the race of my life and placed runner-up to winner Mark Spessot from Dunedin. This was my final bike race as an able-bodied cyclist.
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