Opinion: Hard work and sacrifice pays off for Hawke's Bay's Regan Gough in World Champs

Regan Gough was the EIT Eastern Institute of Technology junior sportsperson of the year award at the Hawke's Bay Sports Awards last year.

Our senior Hawke's Bay Today sports reporter Shane Hurndell could see it a few months ago - the look of a champion in the eye of cyclist Regan Gough.

Gough, Hurndell writes on page 28 today, had just won the supreme award at the Central Hawke's Bay Sports Awards.

He told Hurndell he would not be racing in the Napier-hosted national road championships ... he was focused on track and winning gold at what was then the upcoming New Zealand leg of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Cambridge.

The Cambridge leg - one of five around the world - is now upon us and 22-year-old Gough and his pursuit teammates Campbell Stewart, Jordan Kerby and Nicholas Kergozou won on the opening night on Friday.

These guys are, quite literally, machines.

They combine gym work with bike training to build strength and teamwork.
Not to mention the attention they pay to their diet and nutrition - and it all comes together in a plan that sees them hit peak performance on the day, or night.

Plus the sacrifices they make to achieve their goals - while most of the country goes on its annual over-eating and drinking summer siesta they are in a bubble, focused on winning.

Many mere mortals struggle to wind a bike up to 25km/h - these athletes are travelling at roughly 60km/h an hour.

It's a speed that is sustainable for a only short period, and on Friday Gough was part of a team that recorded the second fastest time in history.

All this at the ripe old age of 22.

The team are a smidgen away from the world record, and having picked up more valuable qualification points - with one World Cup leg to go - for next year's Tokyo Olympics, well, there are no guarantees in sport, but watch this space.

Just don't blink or you might miss them.