The Grammar cycling squad travelled to the National Championships the first weekend of the school holidays after what seemed an eternity since their last race. The cyclists have trained hard all year and their focus has always been on Nationals.

The time trial course is hilly and windy – nothing like the Waterfront – but this year, unusually, the wind was more a brisk breeze.

The Junior Team Time Trial was the first event of the three days racing and the Grammar Junior A team were last to start as current National champions. This is a team who have been unbeaten all season and they clearly meant business as they started strongly. They did not let up and blew away all competition to win by a staggering 53 seconds and take the title for the second year in succession.

The Senior Team Time Trial for the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy is the main event of the school cycling season and the Senior A team were hoping that they might be able to repeat their previous year’s success. They were facing some very strong opposition but were up for the challenge. To make things even more difficult, the weather deteriorated and rain had set in. It became all too apparent as the team tackled the last hill of the course that they would not be repeating the success of the Junior A team and they finished in fifth place. The title was convincingly taken by Hamilton Boys High School who took the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy for their very first time.
 

Grammar did have plenty to celebrate though as riders gained medals in the road and points race championships over the following two days.

In the road races at Feilding, H Seagar and J Morreau both won gold medals in the U15 and U16 grades respectively. In the points races at Manfield auto circuit it was a day of silver for Grammar cyclists. A Morreau, U14, H Seagar, U15, C Elliston, U17 and D Gate U20 all gained second places in their grades.

Points accumulated in the various events were totalled to give overall school rankings. Auckland Grammar were ranked third of the boys schools (after St Kents and Palmerston North).
 

Despite having to relinquish the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy, this has been a pretty successful season for Grammar – especially for the juniors who have been outstanding. It also means that the squad has real depth of talent which is very encouraging for the future.

The cycling squad would like to thank their coaches: Aaron Strong of Steel Springs, Senior Coach and Russell Scott, Junior Coach as well as the many supportive parents. Credit must also go the boys – their effort, time and commitment to cycling has been great and successes have been well deserved.