City to bid for cycling centre of excellence

Rotorua is bidding to be home to a New Zealand cycling centre of excellence, in competition with nearby Taupo.
Sport Bay of Plenty is leading a consortium of groups to push Rotorua as the new high performance centre for cycling.
Rotorua would join the likes of Karapiro for rowing and the North Shore for swimming if it were successful.
The proposed national centre has to support all four cycling disciplines - road, mountainbike, BMX and track.
The supporting evidence for Rotorua to become a national cycling centre of excellence is there for all to see, according to Sport Bay of Plenty chief executive Wayne Werder, pointing to two Commonwealth Games cyclists, a six-time Tour de France finisher, BMX world champions and world-class mountainbike tracks.
"There are a number of strengths to the bid," Mr Werder said.
"Rotorua has already got a very good cycling culture. The strengths around mountainbiking and BMX already exist and there is a strong road culture.
"I think it would be great if Rotorua were to get this centre. It would be further recognition of the value of cycling and what Rotorua has to offer."
A submission has been put forward to Sparc and on October 22 it will issue its Request For Proposal (RFP). This is where Sparc spells out what it expects from any bid and what they will contribute. One aspect that Mr Werder is expecting to feature is a world class indoor velodrome and sports science facilities. He said the town or city chosen as the centre of excellence would also be expected to have a BMX supercross track. No such tracks exist in New Zealand so it will be built at the chosen centre. "Whoever wins this will become Bike NZ's centre for their high performance programme. They'll be bringing a lot of expertise," he said.
The initial Rotorua bid has the support of five local authorities around Rotorua - Whakatane, Kawerau, Opotiki, Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga. The consortium is being led by Sport Bay of Plenty and also has members from Rotorua District Council, Waiariki Institute of Technology, Cycling Rotorua, Rotorua Association of Triathlon and Multisport, Rotorua BMX Club and Rotorua Mountain Bike Club.
Taupo has also made an expression of interest, and Mr Werder said he believed there would also be interest from larger centres, such as Auckland and Christchurch.
Events Capital regional events manager Warwick Hall said if the Taupo proposal got the go-ahead it would have a big impact on the town's events calendar. He said there was already a strong relationship with the UCI (international cycling union) as a result of events like the Great Lake Cycle Challenge and if Taupo had only the second indoor velodrome in the country, it would mean huge opportunities for new events.
Sparc will announce where it will base its cycling high performance centre on April 15.