Next stop for Jack, Cycle Challenge
Jack Edwards’ love for cycling only started four years ago and he has been racing away from the field ever since.
At the beginning of October, Jack [15] took out the under-17 boys’ field of the Te Awamatu open, winning with a solo break away, by one minute and 24 seconds.
Just days earlier, he placed third in the under-17 boys’ points race at the 2017 Secondary School Nationals at the Mansfield Motorsport Park. But that’s not all. Last weekend, Jack also took part in the Arc Adventure Racing Coromandel K1 race where he cycled from Thames to Whitianga. In a field of 400 riders, Jack came home third overall and second in his age group.
‘‘That was quite a good feeling,’’ he said. ’’There’s quite a few top riders in that race, most of them have won titles.’’
The Taupo¯-Nui-a-Tia student started four years ago after his sister took up the sport.
‘‘She started riding competitively and Jack would come along to all the races,’’ Jack’s mum Tina said. ‘‘He thought there was no point sitting on the sidelines and so got into it.’’
Since then, Jack’s life has been non-stop with race meets and training which starts on a Tuesday and ends on the weekend.
‘‘Monday is normally my day off. Tuesday is racing at the Motorsport track with the club, Wednesday is a track session at the velodrome, Thursday is normally a recovery ride, and Friday just depends on what racing is on in the weekend,’’ he said.
Saturday and Sunday is either race days or training days that are a little bit longer.’’
Jack said he does eighthour weeks on his bicycle a total of 200 kilometres in training.
The next event Jack is going to tackle is The Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge .