Columba College - Grace and Good Discipline

The Columba College Cycling programme started out only four years ago and the team has developed significantly in a very short time.

As there are no organised inter-school competitions in Otago, the girls began racing at Cycling Otago local club events to develop their racing skills.  Racing at the club events served as a solid foundation to help them to enter events against Southland schools and then progress to the South Island level.

After a year of training and racing development, the team attended its first Secondary Schools Road Cycling Nationals in 2012.  The first year was a good learning experience and helped the team and coaches to focus on what was needed to be done to move up to the next level.  In 2013, the team attained its first South Island medals with silver in the Open Women’s Team Time Trial and an individual bronze in the U17 Road Race.  

Over these past four years of team development, the girls have trained very hard, including three rigorous training camps.  The initial camp focused on developing riding skills, then the camps progressed to focussing on race technique and then development of strength and endurance.  The girls have also begun to compete in track cycling and the additional work on the track has benefitted their road performance.


Photo courtesy of NZ BIKE

Competition results 2014
The competition results this year were the culmination of all the hard work the girls put into racing and training over the past several years.  At the start of the year, we took a team of 21 cyclists to race against Southland, and Columba College riders took several individual titles.  Bailey Saville (Captain), was placed first in the U19 grade, with Holly Barclay placing 3rd in overall points.  Anna Macdonald was 2nd in the U17 grade, with Ella Harris placing 3rd.  Mila Rollo was first in the U13 grade, with Rebecca Rietveld placing 2nd.  At this event, the Columba College Team Time Trial team of Ella Harris, Ruby Knight, Anna Macdonald and Phoebe Swale were placed first, beating a strong Southland Girls team.  

The next major event was South Island Secondary Schools Championships, held in Christchurch in July.  At this event, our Senior Team Time Trial team of Bailey Saville, Phoebe Swale, Ruby Knight and Ella Harris, placed 2nd in the Open Women’s grade.  Our U16 Team Time Trial Team of Hannah Rogers, Thirza Smith, Madeleine Cooper-Forster and Holly Cameron also placed 2nd.  Saville also placed 1st in the individual time trial and 2nd in road race for the U20 women’s category.  Harris was 2nd and Knight 3rd in the individual time trial for the U17 women’s age group.

Building upon this success, the girls focused on becoming stronger with the goal of a podium finish at the Secondary School’s National Road Cycling Championships. The hard training and dedication paid off when Senior Team Time Trial team struck gold in the under 20 time trial with an outstanding time of 26:13.47, defeating the previous champions Saint Kentigern Girls' School (26:28.25). There were 20 teams taking part in the time trial, and Columba became the first Otago team to win the title. The achievement was even more amazing as the team is comprised of relatively young girls for the U20 category (3 of them are only in Year 11 and one in Year 12) and Columba College competed with only 4 riders as the 5th rider, Anna Macdonald, broke her ankle only weeks out from the event.

Bailey Saville continued her spectacular individual year, winning a silver medal in the U20 individual points race, the first national cycling medal awarded to a girl from Columba College.

Development of Cycling at Columba
Currently 21 girls are members of the Columba College Cycling team which is about 7% of the student body.  The team is growing rapidly, almost doubling in size this year.  With the recent achievements and high profile around the school, we are expecting a large in-take for next year.  Cycling is now seen as a mainstream sport at the College, with a reputation for high levels of performance. We held a junior development camp at the beginning of the school year to attract new cyclists and allow girls to “give cycling a go” before committing to the team.  This was the main way in which we recruited new cyclists to the squad this year and our U16 South Island Silver Medal TTT team, emerged from this camp.

We also have a very positive team environment and try to keep cycling about teamwork and camaraderie over individual achievement; thus, the girls’ exceptional success in the Team Time Trial events. None of the current team members are leaving Columba College in 2015, as they are all relatively young cyclists. This means the team can continue to grow and develop next year with the current members mentoring new riders.


Photo courtesy of NZ BIKE

Competitions
Week-to-week the girls race at the Cycling Otago club competitions. They have also competed for Cycling Otago at the Club Nationals. The key events for the school year are the Otago/Southland Secondary School’s Championships, the South Island Secondary Schools Road Cycling Championships and the NZ Secondary Schools National Road Cycling Championships. Several girls have also competed in the Auckland Secondary Schools Individual Road Cycling Championships and in the Yunca Junior Tour of Southland. This year they have added track cycling to their repertoire and the team is looking forward to competing at track Nationals in January 2015.

Training
The girls train all throughout the year, with the Senior team riding approximately 350km per week and 100km per week for the Junior team. The Senior team also attend the gym five times per week with regular core and weights sessions, to provide overall muscular strength. Track training during the spring and summer seasons is also a regular part of their schedules. Dunedin is very windy and very hilly, with Columba College situated at the top of Maori Hill, so the girls get plenty of strength work in their training. The girls attribute training in tough weather conditions to their ability to cope well with the conditions this year both at South Islands and at Nationals. During the winter, training is also supplemented by wind trainer and spin sessions in the school Sports Centre.  The wind trainer and spin sessions are a time when all levels of riders can train together.  We also try to train as a group about once per week, with the Senior Riders, Junior Riders and Development Riders following slightly different levels of training throughout the week.


Photo courtesy of NZ BIKE

Coaching
The team would not be successful without the hard work and dedication of an array of “support” personnel. The girls’ first coaches were the husband and wife team of Chris Drake and Suzy Pryde (Commonwealth Games and Olympian). Chris and Suzy were responsible for all the initial development work with the girls, including their first training camp, and really started the team off in a positive direction.  When they decided to move back to Auckland, the team was in need of a coach and Cycling Otago was contacted to see if they could offer any assistance. The girls were very fortunate that Chris Henderson, brother of Greg Henderson (Commonwealth Games, Olympian, and current professional cyclist) stepped into the role. Chris has devoted hours to the girls, developing their strength, endurance, race technique and knowledge regarding the sport. Chris creates training plans, does training sessions with the girls, and travels around the country to support them at events. He has been instrumental in their progress and how quickly they have moved up the ranks to become national contenders.  In recognition for his hard work and dedication, Chris Henderson was awarded “Coach of the Year” at the Columba College Sports Awards evening.

In addition, they are supported by Julie McMahon, who is Teacher in Charge of Cycling at the school. Julie helps to organise training and events as well teaching spin classes at the school Sports Centre and training with the development cyclists. Olivia Kennedy, an Old Girl of Columba College and a member of the original cycling team, is the girls other major supporter.  She serves in the role of team manager, doing everything from helping with training sessions, to transporting bikes, to arranging travel for events. Without Olivia’s organisation and support, the team would not be able to function. Finally, we have a committed group of parents who help at all major events, including camps. Without the integral support of all of these people, the team would not be able to achieve at such a high level.

The team was recently awarded the coveted “Team of the Year” cup at the Columba College Sports Awards, which was an exciting highlight to wrap up an amazing year.


Originally published in NZ Bike Issue 79, February 2015