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Photo: Ron Termeer, Getty Images
Hamish Bond (AeroCoach) has continued his successful
transition from Olympic rowing champion to cyclist, taking
the 2018 New Zealand national time trial title — and all but
securing a ride in the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Bond made an impact in his debut national TT last
year when he finished third behind Jack Bauer and Jason
Christie. After focusing on his time trialling in the past 12
months, and spending most of the 2016 season in the UK,
the 31-year-old took to the top step.
It’s a familiar spot for Bond, who won gold medals at the
2012 and 2016 Olympic Games in the coxless pairs and
claimed eight rowing world titles between 2007-2015.
Bond said it was tough going in windy conditions in
Napier on Friday, January 5, and said it hurt more than
rowing. He clocked 50 minutes and 50 seconds on the
40-kilometre course.
“Really pleased with the result — there’s some tough
sections on the course with the wind — you’ve got punchy
climbs which you’ve really got to work hard to get up,”
Bond told the New Zealand Herald.
“It was hard, every time I do a race like that I wonder
what on earth I’m doing, maybe I should go back to rowing
— it hurts and it carries on hurting for 50 minutes.”
The Aerocoach rider took the win over a minute ahead
of his closest rival, Michael Vink. Christie completed the
podium in third.
Two of the nation’s strongest riders against the clock
were absent. Last year’s winner, Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-
Scott) decided not to ride due to illness and LottoNL-
Jumbo’s George Bennett was also missing.Former rower
Bond wins New
Zealand Nationals
Dave Rayner Fund
ups support for
women in 2018
James Shrubsallhe Dave Rayner Fund is
set to sponsor a record
number of women in
2018, and has put additional
emphasis on recruiting grass-roots
riders to complement an already
healthy roster of pro-level men
and women.
Female riders make up a quarter
(nine) of a total of 36, and 20 are
enjoying funding from the set-up
that supported David Millar, Dan
McLay and Tao Geoghegan Hart,
among others, for the first time.
“We wanted to have more
women but we want to help them
at the basic level,” said the Rayner
Fund’s Joscelin Ryan.
“We encouraged that because
last year we ran a little taster
session — a trip to Belgium where
riders were able to go along and
see what it was all about. Eight
girls who were new to Belgium
went along for a couple of weeks,
and three of them [Amy Hill, Jane
Hellewell, Holly Flannery] have
applied and got funding. They’re
going to be doing smaller but still
very difficult races.
“We’ll be making sure they’re
alright and if anyone needs
looking after we’ll be there to
rescue them,” Ryan added.
“They won’t be on their own.”
“There are lots of good British
riders in professional UCI teams at
various levels doing the top races,”
she said. “But what we didn’t seem
to have were grass-roots riders at18 years old, going over to do the
smaller races abroad.”
Experience abroad at the
grass-roots level, she said, was
a valuable lesson. “I think that
step sometimes gets skipped with
riders and it’s an important one.”
The fundees will compete
in teams across Europe, from
Belgium and the Netherlands to
Spain and Italy. They also include
10-mile national junior record
holder Henrietta Colbourne,
who goes to Bizkaia Durango in
Spain, and national junior road
champion Jacob Vaughan, who
joins the Lotto-Soudal U23 outfit
in Belgium.
“Jacob Vaughan is the latest in
a long line of [Dave Rayner] riders
that have gone to Lotto-Soudal
Under-23s,” said Ryan. “Any rider
that can cope with that level of
racing is going to learn so much
and is pretty much guaranteed to
become a professional. He’s in a
very good situation.”Nine female riders to receive support
Bond’s boats-for-bikes
swap is paying off10-mile champ Colbourne’s
heading to Spain12 | January 11, 2018 | Cycling Weekly