Fallen cyclists honoured
New trophy to commemorate sacrifices made by New Zealanders in Belgium during World War I, writes David Long.
The little known New Zealand Cycling Corp that took part in World War I will be remembered from now on in a special way.
The winner of the New Zealand under-23 road cycling championship each January will be presented with a unique trophy, a cobble from the Kemmelberg hill in Belgium.
It’s an iconic cobbled climb in the Gent-Wevelgem Spring Classic cycle race and a number of other races, but it’s also where some of the most ferocious battles in World War I were fought.
At a ceremony up the cobbled climb that’s known mostly these days for testing to the limits the world’s top cyclists, a ceremony took place on Friday to remove one of the cobbles, which was attended by New Zealand’s ambassador to Belgium, Greg Andrew, Dirk Van Hove from Cycling NZ, the local mayor and Elizabeth Southey, the daughter of Charles Southey, who was in the NZ Cycling Corp from 1916-1919.
It will be handed out each January during the national road cycling championships to New Zealand’s best young rider.
The initiative was the Roger Dungan, a New work of Zealand diplomat at the embassy in Paris.
As a keen cyclist he was fascinated by the story of a cycling corp, set up because the best way to get across the dreadful, bomb crater riddled terrain in northern France and Belgium was by bike.
‘‘I work in Paris at the New Zealand Embassy and the World War I stuff isn’t part of my overall job,’’ Duncan said. ‘‘But the New Zealand government is committed to commemorate the sacrifices made in the First World War, during the centenary period and as a keen cyclist I was thinking about what I could do to be a part of that.
‘‘I was wondering if there was anything bike related and came across this New Zealand Cycling Corp and that sparked a chain of things.
‘‘We wanted to create a living memorial to remember this. I knew cyclists back home would be keen on it and it cements the links between New Zealand and this part of Belgium and France.’’
The trophy for winning the Roubaix race, one of monuments of road cycling, cobble and this follows Paris the is a that tradition.
‘‘Cobblestones define racing in this part of the world and New Zealand cyclists fought and died on this road, up the Kemmelberg.
‘‘So I got in touch with the race organisers of the Gent Wevelgem and they were extremely committed to this.’’
The New Zealand Cycling Corp arrived at the Western Front in 1916. Initially, they tried to have rifles mounted on their bikes, but it became apparent once in Europe that this wouldn’t work, so they performed a similar function to horse mounted riflemen and conducted scouting and reconnaissance work, but at times went into the trenches also.
Heavy losses were suffered at the offensives in Messines, Kemmelberg and Passchendaele, and in September, 1918, they were renamed the New Zealand Cyclist Battalion.
Over time their story has been forgotten, but thanks to this new trophy, the sacrifices they made will once again be remembered.
‘‘This is a very special project that means so much to the people of Belgium and New Zealand,’’ Cycling NZ chief executive Andrew Matheson said.
We wanted to create a living memorial to remember this. NZ diplomat Roger Dungan