Son in Rio team an added bonus

Penny and Dean Gough will join daughter Kelsi in Brazil to support their Olympian son Regan, a track cyclist at the 2016 Olympic Games. Photo / Warren Buckland

The parents of Hawke's Bay Olympian Regan Gough leave for Brazil tomorrow, a trip they would have made even if he was not selected.

"We hoped this would happen and planned the trip anyway," Penny Gough said.

"It is an added bonus Regan is going to be there to compete - we just had to take the risk."

He is part of the 20-strong New Zealand track team at Rio de Janeiro, where the 19-year-old will also have his older sister Kelsi cheering him on.

"It will be very special," father Dean Gough said.

He was "hugely proud" of his son's achievement, attained through hard work and dedication.

"We are not pushy parents - if anything we have had to hold him back at times. He is just determined and he does the hard yards."

Regan did his first organised ride when he was 5.

He was about 12 when he first rode a track.

"When Regan was young we quite often headed off to Wanganui, where he competed on a regular basis.

The Gough name is well known in cycling circles.

"His cousins Westley and Fraser have both done well in road and track which has given Regan enthusiasm to compete at a high level."

Regan was a member of the gold medal-winning 4000m team pursuit team at the world championship in Paris in February last year, while still a junior.

Penny Gough said she was not worried about his safety during the many hours spent training on local Waipukurau roads.

"You can't worry about stuff you can't control, otherwise I'd be a nervous wreck."

She said she does not know where his determination to succeed came from. "He has always been a great kid. If he decides that's what he wants to do he just does it."