Cycling
Olivia Greenaway-Ewing was recently selected to represent Cycling New Zealand as an Under17 cyclist to be a part of a team of junior New Zealand Cyclists to travel to Malaysia ( Kuala Lumpa ) and take part in racing in the MNCF Malaysian President Cup.
The opportunity and experience for Olivia was amazing and a huge learning curve, as the athletes were away from home for 10 days which consisted of a full-on high-performance sport itinerary.
The team consisted of 25 riders aged 15 –18yrs from both sprint and endurance track disciplines along with 8 Cycling New Zealand staff/ coaches/ mechanics / medics.
7 countries in total were represented at the event and all the races were full fields with the best from each country representing.
The journey started with a 2-day training camp in Cambridge at the grassroots velodrome, which included many hours or training and refining their cycling race craft, cultural education classroom sessions, disassembly and packing of all their own equipment and team equipment to Cycling NZ standards.
On arrival in Malaysia, they then had to assemble their bikes and get into their work. With a total of three days full-on racing ahead.
Olivia had a very successful racing campaign and came away with some great results from such strong fields, with two outstanding podiums.
Team Medal --- Silver Medal – 3km Team Pursuit. The NZ team qualified fastest but were narrowly beaten by Australia by 0.4 sec in the ride off for the gold medal.
Individual medal --- Bronze Medal – Elimination Race- Olivia rode a very smart and strong race and showed why she had been selected for team, finishing strong in 3rd place.
Overall, Olivia really enjoyed the experience and came away with many positives and a few things she can improve on. Having the opportunity to take part in an event at this level has many positive outcomes and she will only grow in in sport and in person following this.
Olivia is very excited as to what opportunities will arise and open for her in the months/ years to come.
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