Tasman Wheelers November Newsletter
8 November 2024
Dates For Your Diary
16 November Memorial Ride, 10.00 am Wakefield
23 November Kermesse Championship, 10.00am Livingstone Rd Brightwater
14 December Christmas Ride & BBQ, Aniseed Valley
8 March 2025 Tasman Classic, Upper Moutere
11-13 April 2025 Age Group Road Nationals, Cambridge
18 October 2025 Tasman Secondary Schools Champs
Kia ora koutou, Greetings All
What an awesome day of racing and catching up with members past and present at the Tasman Secondary Schools Road Cycling Championships and our annual Open Day. It was especially heartening to see and have the support of our life members, past presidents and so many of our former racers – awesome to have your support and to catch up with each other – all be it briefly on my part. Thanks to everyone who made the day possible, especially our young up and coming cyclists, and congratulations to our winners – all results on the website.
I would also like to acknowledge our sponsors for your support with this event and the Club generally:
· Village Cycles
· NBS
· Sprig and Fern
· GJ Gardner
· Copy Press
· RWCA
· Tall Poppy
We really appreciate your support thank you. Please give your support to these businesses whenever you can as we could not do what we do for road cycling without their generous support.
We are now midway through our Spring Calendar and it has been great to see so many riders, especially our great group of young riders, enjoying Tuesday night and Saturday racing. We have welcomed a number of new members as well as riders from Marlborough and further afield in recent weeks. Great also to see a number of Coast to Coast trainees joining our ranks and adding to the quality of racing. If you need any extra incentive to join us we also have spot prizes up for grabs.
Riders Latest Achievements
· Congratulations to Josephine Tappenden who recently finished 13th at the recent Xterra Youth B & Junior World Championships in Italy. Josephine’s next challenge is Taupo at the end of the month, something she tells me she is really excited about. To Josephine and all our members heading to Taupo, have a great ride.
· Finn Mitchell and Cameron Beaumont are currently riding the Tour of Southland and at the end of Stage 5 Finn is 5th on GC, Cameron 41st. Enjoy the last couple of days and great riding.
· Please keep us posted on rider’s achievements – we love to celebrate.
As a Club we are particularly focused at present on growing and supporting road cycling across the region. We are currently in the process of developing a plan to grow the awareness and participation in road cycling for junior riders, especially through our local schools. You may be able to support this initiative through mentoring, coaching or general encouragement and support of these riders in our events. If you have any bikes or gear in good condition that might be suitable to help interested young riders get started please let myself or another committee member know. Thank you to those who have recently donated a bike, shoes and, last weekend, a helmet. We really appreciate the generosity.
We would also like to encourage those of you who no longer wish to race to come along and join our events for a social group ride, as so many of you did for our Open Day. It is always great to share stories around the table after the event too.
Recent and Current Committee Action:
· 2025 registration fees are now due for payment. Just follow the link on our website or you can pay your registration on race day – just let Don know. NB You can no longer pay Club registration through the CNZ website. Thank you to the 40 members who have already registered for the 2024-25 season. One benefit of being a paid up member is a reduced entry fee for the Tasman Classic.
· At our October meeting we approved an updated Health and Safety Policy for the Club and all members should have received a copy of our related Code of Conduct document now. We are currently in the process of adding accident response instructions to race briefings and specific safety notes to courses.
· We also co-opted Henry Kersten to our committee at this meeting. Welcome aboard Henry.
· Work is about to start on the post Christmas Calendar so please let us know your thoughts about racing times and courses. How have you found the Tuesday night racing all being based at Brightwater?
· Gravel races are being looked at for including in the calendar after Christmas. If you have any specific thoughts or suggestions about these please talk to Grant Ludemann.
· Four members will be undertaking TMO training mid November to spread the load on our current STMS team. It is our intention to train a further four members in this role next year so if you are interested let us know.
· Work is also about to commence on organising the Tasman Classic. Again, if you have any specific thoughts about this event have a chat to myself, Symon Mitchell, David Loe or Lyn Richardson.
· Club Kit – we have a small supply of new kit available. Contact Don for youre requirements.
· We cannot run our events without the great support of our race day management teams. Please ensure you advise Wayne or David promptly, preferably having arranged a substitute, if you are unable to assist at your designated event. Race day crew will also be added to the spot prize draw.
· The Committee has agreed the following roles and responsibilities:
Health and Safety | Roy, Don and Grant |
Club Promotion | Lyn and Scott [social media] |
Sponsorship | Peter, Don & Grant |
Finances | Don |
Club Kit | Don |
2026 Nationals | Symon/ Peter |
Race Calendar | David/Symon |
Junior rider Liaison | Lyn/ Peter |
Traffic Management | David/ Wayne, Colin |
Website/ facebook | Symon/Scott |
Track Nelson Cycling liaison | Wayne |
Privacy Officer | Wayne |
Plant Manager | Chris |
Wanting to keep up to date with what is happening?
Keep an eye our website, Facebook or Instagram – Scott Ingram has been working hard on postings of photos and video on the latter two. The website is currently featuring historical video of the 2004 Tour de Vinyards. Enjoy the walk down memory lane. We are keen to profile riders and events over time so if you have anything you are willing to share please let us know.
Mark the dates above on your calendar especially our Memorial Ride at 10.00am on 16 November, the Kermesse Champs on 23 November at 10.00am, our Christmas outing and 8 March for the Tasman Classic.
Thank you for your ongoing support in growing road cycling in the Tasman region.
Happy pedalling and see you soon.
Nga mihi/Regards
Peter King for the Tasman Wheelers Committee
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