Promising Hawke's Bay driver Ronan Murphy has topped the points table following a week-long camp with MotorSport New Zealand's Elite MotorSport Academy in Dunedin.
The highly regarded Otago Academy of Sport run academy is a year-long programme administered by the MotorSport NZ Scholarship Trust with the Otago Academy of Sport's top sports tutors. The programme starts with an intensive in-house camp covering a wide array of skills and techniques for mental and physical fitness specific to motorsport competitors, as well as sponsorship and marketing, nutrition and media skills to aid their success in the sport.
Murphy was joined by fellow Hawke's Bay 17-year-old Zac Stichbury, Auckland's Joshua Bethune, 16, and Breanna Morris, 15, New Plymouth's Thomas Boniface, 15, Taupō's Conrad Clark, 16, Palmerston North's Katrina Renshaw, 23, and Wellingtonian Ryan Wood, 15, at the camp. Each competitor was assessed on several aspects of their performance and teamwork and Renshaw and Boniface finished second and third respectively to Murphy.
The eight competitors continue with the rest of the year-long programme with tailored coaching and mentoring to ensure they retain and further develop the training regimes and educational opportunities demonstrated during the camp. They are also assessed on their performance and participation in the follow-up programme, so at the end of the 12 months, the highest points scorer is named the academy winner, receiving the Ian Snellgrove trophy, presented in memory of long-time MotorSport New Zealand general manager and academy programme trustee Snellgrove.
The son of New Zealand motor racing legend and Hawke's Bay Hall of Famer Greg Murphy, Murphy, said he learned a lot in virtually every workshop, but that the nutrition and hydration information was an aspect he knew very little about and one he feels will make a significant difference in the future.