Physed School students and staff at Track Nationals

School of Physical Education: Life in the Fast Lane - NZ Track Cycling Championships 

Staff members Mark Falcous, Chris harvey and Craig Palmer together with students Katee Boyd and Matt Archibald gained valuable insights while competing at the the NZ Track Nationals, held 2 - 7 March in Invercargill.

Olympic coach and PhD student Craig Palmer again proved the value of his physiology expertise when his protégé Alison Shanks twice broke NZ records in the Women’s Individual Pursuit – an excellent build-up for their trip to the World Championships in Poland.

Senior lecturer and sociologist Mark Falcous, representing Otago and finishing a creditable 4th in a fast Masters’ 8km Scratch race, was intrigued to observe up-close the triumphs and disasters of cycling’ elite, and the atmosphere at the Velodrome.

Another staunch competitor for Otago was Teaching Assistant and PhD student Chris Harvey:  in addition to his own efforts on the track, he is giving fitness and training advice to athlete Stu’ Thomas preparing to race at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling Masters World Championships in Sydney, Australia this October. Chris and Craig Palmer routinely use the Repco Wingate ergometer to monitor changes in an athlete’s maximal power. They undertake performance and incremental exercise tests for fatigue on the Velotron cycle ergometer, which can involve blood lactate profiling and breath gas analysis.

Representing Auckland (but coached by Otago physical education graduate  Damian Wiseman), 18 year-old student Ashleigh James gained greatly from her first taste of national-level competition:  up against a strong field of elite women, which included Olympian Shanks and Otago physical education graduate Kaytee Boyd, a World Champ Team Pursuit medallist. Ashleigh says “it was awesome, high-class racing, and my first experience of the ‘jump-up’ to different distances in events - I cut 20 seconds off my PB for the Individual Pursuit, placed 3rd in the Team Pursuit, and was 8th in the sprints, just missing out on a semi-final appearance.”

Student Matt Archibald is a former rower, who started sprint cycling after doing a power test at the School of Physical Education which indicated he had the right physiology for the sport. “In the build-up to nationals I have used SRM's (mobile power meters) to measure power output, using my PE background to interpret this data to optimise training and measure progress.”  Matt has now been riding for 14 months and was pleased to reach the Quarter Final of the Elite Men’s Sprint, gain a 5th place in the Team Sprint, and came 3rd in the Kieran B Final. “Lecture-based learning plus sports science knowledge gained from cycling-specific lab work has made the transition between sports easy, as it has allowed me to understand the physiological requirements for sprint cycling and the physiological adaptations that occur from different types of training.”