Over the weekend of July 12–13, two of our young riders represented the school at the South Island Secondary School Road Champs in Christchurch with strong performances and great sportsmanship.
Theo Dermody placed 3rd in the time trial and 4th in the road race in the U14 category, reflecting on a well-prepared and determined effort that led him to a personal best and a podium finish. Harpur Shayler, competing in his first South Island Champs in the U13 category, showed grit and ambition, placing 7th in the time trial and 6th in the road race, and already setting goals for future events.
Harpur Shayler - Y7
"I got my 1st bike when I was 7 years old then I did a little bit of Mountain biking, and when I was 11 I got into road biking which required a different bike called an Avanti road bike. It was a hand me down from my brother’s old bike . My 1st race was Dunns Memorial, Catlins way, and I placed 2nd in my first road race. That’s when I started to take it seriously and loved racing. My coach Marc Prutton set me up with a training plan. I train twice a week, up to 2hrs and in the holidays I train every day.
Last holidays I went up to Chch to attend the South Island Road Race Champs. On Saturday woke up early in the morning and I biked to the race track with my brother and friend Lucy the 15kms to the track. 1st race I did my time trial which I timed 6.04mins in 3.4kms. My average pace was around 35kms. 11 of us in the U13s and I placed 7th.
The following day I did the main race which was 10kms and feeling very nervous as we lined up at the cones. The lead car was in front and the flag went down and I was off!. In the bunch we took turns in the front, the 2nd lap Zack attacked from Chch and he broke away and we couldn’t catch him at all. We were coming around the last corner on the last straight and we all started sprinting trying to finish behind Zack and I ended up coming 5th and for my 1st ever South Island Champs I was pleased with that and have goals to place higher in the future."
Theo Dermody - Y8
"I attended the South Island Road Champs in Chch 11th -12th July. Training had gone well, and I knew coming into the race that I had prepared myself as well as I could. My Coach, Marc Prutton, had been pushing me and getting me to achieve my goals. I had extra coaching around sprinting as the course was not going to be hilly.
The Time trial was on Saturday 12t, sunny but a cold day. I was the 10th rider out of 12 to leave the gates. He said 5, 4 ,3 2, 1 and I was off! The race was 3.4 kms around the Euromarq race track in Chch. I went out there intending to go as hard as I could and ended up crossing the line in 3rd place. My time was 5.27mins, a personal best around that track, and I was very pleased to go up to the podium to receive my medal. Later on I did a team composite time trial with a couple of friends from James Hargest. I pushed myself as hard as I could to keep up with them and succeeded, which was a great experience for me.
Day 2 was the main race around the track. 3 laps with everyone in my age group. All 12 of us lined up behind the car, the flags came down and we were racing!! I put in an attack halfway through the race, trying to break free, however ended up getting reeled back in to the main peloton. With 1 lap to go, 3 of the boys broke away and left the rest of us behind. After some solid chasing to catch up with them they were just to far ahead so my goal now was to chase 4th place with a sprint like no other sprint and I achieved my goal. I placed 4th in my first South Island Road Race Competition, 3rdoverall.
I felt really happy that I had won a medal and also did so well in the main race. My next event is Tour of Timaru next school holidays in Timaru. So watch this space!!"
