Trevor Jackson
LIMESTONE Coast cyclists Niel Van Niekerk and Kai Arbery celebrated a huge achievement recently, claiming the gold medal at the Under 19 Australian Sprint Championships.
The pair teamed up with Adelaide’s Tayte Ryan to chase the team sprint title under the tutelage of South Australian Sports Institute coach James Glasspool and succeeded at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.
In their first year in the South Australian Under 19 team, Van Niekerk and Arbery were almost overwhelmed with the result, despite feeling they were up to the challenge heading to the championships.
“It feels great to have won it,” Van Niekerk said.
“We were really hoping for the gold and worked really hard for it the last year together, so it was good to get it.”
While Van Niekerk has been involved in cycling in the region for many years, for Arbery it is a short two years into his career.
“It is almost a bit surreal,” Arbery said.
“It is a pretty good feeling.
“You look up and see the number one next to SA and you think, ‘we have done it’.
“Then we were celebrating, with hands off the bars and pumping the air.”
The team sprint sees three cyclists take to the track, with the leading rider peeling off after a lap, then the second until the final rider is left to blast to the line.
Positions on the track were changed during the competition to try to get the most out of the team.
Arbery originally began as first wheel, which he felt comfortable with.
“It is quite a simple job in a way,” he said.
“You have one thing on your mind and that is to get out of the gate quickly and go.
“I didn’t think there was too much pressure being first wheel in qualifying.”
From there positions changed and in the final it was up to Van Niekerk to ensure the team was off to a good start, which included a bit more pressure with everything on the line.
“It was a bit more stressful because we hadn’t ridden those positions before,” he said.
“I was at the gate and Kai was second wheel, so I was stressed about getting out of the gate on time, not going too early or too late or not being fast enough.
“But it was good in the end.”
It was then up to Arbery to continue the pace and set up for a victory, with the fast Ryan set to take the team to the line.
“That was pretty daunting,” Arbery said.
“You have to get the change right so you don’t get disqualified, then you just go full gas, as fast as you can.”
To add to the pressure of the championships, the boys replaced a winning team, with Glasspool having claimed four straight Australian titles with his riders.
Van Niekerk and Arbery said they did not want to be the team to break the run.
In the end there was little to separate the victorious South Australians from the New South Wales riders, a team which had been faster throughout the meet.
Both boys said they could not have achieved such a lofty goal if it was not for their parents, who travelled with them to Adelaide on a weekly basis for training and of course supplied the equipment required for a tilt at a national title.
“When I got the new bike I was going faster than I ever had,” Arbery said.
“The more I rode it the more I noticed how stiff it is and it just goes where you put it.”
Likewise Van Niekerk placed a huge importance on the right equipment.
“There is a huge difference in aero and how much power goes through the wheels,” he said.
“It is pretty important to have good equipment.”
In the end it was well worth the effort for the boys and to have two members of a gold-medal-winning team from the Limestone Coast, showcasing the young talent in the region.
