Cycling: Champion tells of big break

Dean and Penny Gough with son Regan at the Ramblers dinner. Photo / Duncan Brown

Regan Gough was a fresh-faced 9-year-old when he lined up for his first Ramblers race.

Nine years later to the day, he spoke to the club about his journey to becoming a multiple world champion.

Gough has become the most successful junior track cyclist in the history of New Zealand cycling.

He was part of the Kiwis' gold medal-winning 4000m team pursuit team at February's elite world championship in Paris. During his speech at the Ramblers Cycling Club dinner on Saturday, he said he was not expecting to be called up just hours beforehand, when Marc Ryan withdrew with injury. He completed the race 12 seconds faster than he had ever done.

Gough said it showed what you could do, given the opportunity and with a good team around you.

He is resting after a tough five-and-a-half weeks in Belgium, where he described the racing as "fast and furious".

He is considering lining up for the Tour of China in October or the next Tour of Southland.

Guest speaker Rob Waddell congratulated Gough and the club on the strength of cycling in the region.

The Olympic rowing gold medallist and former Team New Zealand member said competing and winning at the Sydney Olympics was the highlight of his career. But he soon came to a crossroads and decided to chase his new passion for sailing. He did not let the small matter of his inexperience get in the way.

During his time with the team, they went from wearing sun hats to helmets as the boat speeds increased from 18 to 52 knots.

Sailors are fitted with panic knives, oxygen tanks, abseiling gear, body armour, knee pads and special shoes. It took half an hour just to get dressed, Waddell said.

"It felt like all you were missing was a machine gun."

Waddell had a close call when he was swept under the hull, when the boat went from 43 knots to 3 in less than a second.

"I was under there long enough to think, 'still here, not happy about this'. Fortunately, after that I managed to pop off."

His wife Sonia was in the America's Cup village listening to dramatic commentators saying that there were bodies everywhere. "She was a wreck. My 6-year-old daughter Madeleine wanted to know if I'd seen a fish."

Waddell said there was a lot of mixed emotion when thinking about the team's last campaign.

He said there was a critical day about a month before the America's Cup when Oracle released a new system to control their foil.

"We believed, and still do believe, it was against the rule. We protested, the jury ruled in their favour and they were allowed to use it."

How did they go from an 8-1 lead to lose it?

Oracle learnt how to use their foil, he said.

Waddell's new role is as chef de mission for the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games efforts. It involves everything from performance planning, selecting the team to uniform entry and travel.

He advised athletes preparing for the Games to imagine the toughest race of their life and it might be close to that intensity on the day. "Sport is full of many surprises."