A tale of two velodromes
After a couple of years in the wilderness, New Zealand’s first indoor velodrome is once again finding its place in the New Zealand cycling landscape.
When the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome was opened in 2006, it was the first velodrome of its type in the country, built to the latest international standards.
It was the home of New Zealand’s top track cyclists, until the Avantidrome was completed in Cambridge, Waikato, in 2014.
The Avantidrome now serves as the new base for Cycling New Zealand and the high- performance track programme.
Losing the elite track programme was a significant setback, and left the velodrome’s position uncertain as the country’s elite track cyclists relocated to Cambridge, with many younger riders who wanted to be as close as possible to the high-performance programme following them up north.
However, SIT Southern Performance Hub coach Sid Cumming feels the fortunes of the velodrome have turned a corner and that it is set to become the prime venue for developing New Zealand’s future champions.
The turning point was the creation of a regional performance hub system, which places a focus on developing junior and under23 riders and bridging the gap between the junior level and the high-performance elite programme based in Cambridge.
‘‘We’ve always developed really good under-19 cyclists at junior worlds level, but we were losing a lot of those cyclists, because there was a void there for them. This programme keeps them in the sport and gives the a chance to bridge that gap,’’ Cumming said.
The Southern Performance Hub is one of a range of hubs spread throughout New Zealand to help develop future elite talent.
However, the velodrome still sets Invercargill apart, and serves as a magnet for track cyclists from outside the region as well.
Among the riders who moved to Invercargill is Sophie-Leigh Bloxham, who relocated from Levin to complete her schooling here and who was recently named to the New Zealand team for the junior world championships.
Lachlan Robertson may be the best example of the turning tide, having made the move down from Cambridge, where he was a member of the Waikato Performance Hub, to join the Southern Performance Hub and study at SIT.
‘‘The opportunities here for athletes in that age bracket is much better; a lot of people go to Cambridge and they don’t get track time because everyone is up there,’’ Cumming said.
Once the new hub intake is announced in the next week or so, there may be some more riders moving down from other parts of the country, with some having their entire families looking at relocating to Invercargill, he said.
‘‘We are slowly starting to get that overflow, with people wanting to come here. We will continue bringing people into the province and hopefully develop some champions,’’ he said.
Cycling New Zealand highperformance athlete programme lead Graeme Hunn said Cycling Southland had done especially well in creating an integrated agegroup programme around the performance hub.
‘‘The hub programme works best when it’s part of that system. If centres like Southland can push that early development, we can work at the sharp end of the