Schools battle for TTT glory

Future stars of the pro-tour TTT are racing tomorrow ©Graham Watson

Oct 6th, 11. On Saturday the next generation of New Zealand's pro-tour riders will battle it out in the much contested team time trial competition of the NZ Schools Road Cycling Championships.

The championships are held over three days with a road race and points race following the first day's team time trial, but the TTT is the glory event according to riders RoadCycling.co.nz talked to.

Auckland Grammar are the defending champions in both the U20 and U16 men's age groups and hope their focus on teamwork will see them take the win again - but they only placed 7th at the North Island Championships in July when Hamilton Boys High took the win.

In the women's races, Auckland's St Cuthbert's College are the U20 defending champions while Waikato Diocesan School are the U16 defending champions.

All divisions are racing the same 16km course in Levin. The U20 races have five riders, with the time recorded after the 4th rider crosses the finish line, all other categories have four riders with the time recorded after the 3rd rider.

On Sunday the racing heads to Feilding where 700 future stars will contest between one and three laps of the 16km road race circuit. 

As the pinnacle event on the New Zealand schools cycling calendar, the past winners' list boasts an impressive collection of top international cyclists including Sarah Ulmer, Jesse Sergent and Rushlee Buchanan.

Sat 8th Oct 2011 - 16km Team Time Trial

Koputaroa School, Koputaroa Road – Levin