Competitors in the Tour De Beautiful Cycle Challenge 2017. Photo/ Paul Taylor
Cycling CHB member Robbie Hislop has a stack of memorabilia relating to the Tour de Beautiful CHB, a race that is into its 30s now and is taking place again on Sunday, January 21.
He was one of the original members of Cycling CHB - originally dubbed BATS - saying “at the start a lot of us were runners, I had done a lot of marathons, and we thought we’d take on cycling as well”.
It took off. BATS, which stood for biathlons and triathlons, proved popular and user-friendly. No one could have predicted that cycling in Central Hawke’s Bay would grow to encompass an event that would fill CHB’s roads with hundreds of cyclists, and that the club would produce international and Olympic riders.
Member Arie Groenvenld wrote about the club’s early beginnings:
Whilst out on a training run, friends Mike Brown and Robbie Hislop discussed the idea of forming a new club which encompassed cycling as well as running.
With this in mind, Mike Brown organised a biathlon from the Waipawa School, which consisted of a 2km run followed by a 6km cycle.
Five competitors turned up on January 26, 1989 for this event.
When looking for a name for this new club Suzanne Carpenter, who was married to the local dentist, came up with the acronym BATS and hence the name of the club was called CHB BATS, which stood for Biathlons and Triathlons Club.
After a few years a group asked if people who only wanted to cycle could have their own cycle race. In 1991 a cycle race was added to the programme monthly.
Gradually the cycle races increased in popularity and in 1993 cycle races were held in conjunction with the biathlons. The cycle races proved so popular that the biathlons and triathlons were shifted to a different night so that competitors could compete in both events.
The first CHB Tour race was held in 1993 and was run separately to the club by Ross Pepper, Richard Lee and Max Chatfield. This has now become the popular Tour De Beautiful, which is held annually in January, run by the club. It has attracted fields upwards of 500 competitors.
In 2008 the club changed its name to Cycling CHB but recognised its history by keeping the BATS emblem.
The club has had notable riders amongst its ranks - Jeremy Yates, who won the Junior World Road Race in 2000, Westley Gough, who won a gold medal at the Junior World Cycling Championships in 2005 and a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 representing New Zealand in the Track Teams Pursuit. Westley won the Central Hawke’s Bay Sportsperson of the Year on two occasions.
More recently, Westley’s cousin and CHB Cycling Club member Regan Gough, who was part of the World Championship winning team in Paris in 2015, came fourth in the men’s team pursuit at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was part of the team pursuit combination that won silver at the World Championships in 2020 and rode in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Regan Gough has been recognised at the CHB Mail Central Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards four times and won the supreme award at the Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards in 2015 and 2020.
The early Tour de Beautiful CHB races aimed to go through the small towns of Central Hawke’s Bay to “spread the word about cycling”.
When the numbers grew to over 500, the club decided to introduce the Porangahau course - which is being used this year - to make the long course harder.
With the growth in entries, the club was able to financially aid younger members to go on to higher levels, and added scholarships for coaching.
Robbie says, “We are proud to support young riders and people who have gone on to represent New Zealand.”
But the heart of the club remains its family-friendly, supportive atmosphere and a cycling culture in Central Hawke’s Bay that makes it one of the safest and most enjoyable places to road-ride, in the country.
“We always get comments from outside riders about how courteous our local drivers are, and how much they enjoy riding here. It’s something that has developed over the years, and something we work on. We share the road. Local drivers are used to seeing us on weekly training rides and while training for events,” says Robbie.
But it’s not all about competing.
“Everyone is important, it’s fun, it’s a bit of a laugh, and it’s huge for health and wellbeing.”
The “Tour” itself has courses for recreational cyclists - from the start point at CHB College the courses include 100km, 55km and 25km. And organisers assure recreational riders “lycra is not necessary”.
E-bikes are welcome, and the ride is fully supported by marshals and vehicles so anyone getting a flat tyre or injury will be transported.
This year’s Bay Motorcycles Tour de Beautiful CHB will take to the road at 9am on Sunday, January 21.
Registrations are open, and more information about the Bay Motorcycles Tour de Beautiful CHB including how to enter is on the Cycling CHB Bats Facebook page or at cyclingchb.co.nz.