Cycling NZ gets $200k

Cycling New Zealand is the big winner from the latest round of High Performance Sport New Zealand funding.

The cyclists received an additional $200,000 for 2018 to fund their Commonwealth Games campaign. That was on top of the $4.2 million they were already scheduled to receive, taking their total funding to $4.4m.

That was on the back of impressive performances at the most recent world championship and world cup events. The increase was significant given Cycling New Zealand lost $500,000 of funding after a lacklustre showing at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The men’s softball programme also received a boost of $50,000 to $300,000 to prepare for the 2019 Softball World Cup, while shooters Chloe Tipple and Owen Robinson will receive $15,000 each to match the amount awarded to Natalie Rooney to fund their Commonwealth Games campaigns.

Squash player Paul Coll will also receive $15,000 towards his Commonwealth Games doubles preparation and his campaign to become world No 1, while Paralympics New Zealand receives a $25,000 investment to support the games delivery for the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

There will be a couple of happy long-track speedskaters as well with the news they would receive $20,000 of new funding to support preparation for the men’s team pursuit at next year’s Winter Olympic Games.

Most of HPSNZ’s 2018 funding was confirmed last year, with either two or four-year commitments made.

Rowing ($5.1m) remains the most-funded ahead of cycling, yachting ($3.8m) and athletics ($2.75m). Strong Olympic results meant increases for the latter two sports and HPSNZ had already committed to a $150,000 increase for athletics and $100,000 for sailing in 2018.

Of the tier two sports, canoe racing (up $150,000 to $1.75m) and women’s rugby sevens (up $100,000 to $1.2m) had the biggest increases already inked in. Women’s sevens will receive $300,000 more than their male counterparts next year.

This year’s announcement was to allocate an extra $340,000 of investment which was made available through operational savings at HPSNZ.

It took the total funding for 2018 to a tick over $36m. funding