Calling cyclists for big event

The olympics are over and you would be forgiven for not wanting to give them another thought for another four years - high-performance athletes generally don't have that luxury.

Four years in the life of an athlete isn't long and Rio will be here before we know it.

Many national sporting organisations will already have in place their plans for the next games - albeit requiring some "tweaking" dependent on the review of London performances - and some will have thought as far out as 2020.

With this is mind we are putting the call out for mountainbiking's next superstars.

The Academy of Sport Red Stag bike squad in conjunction with Rotorua in Gear is running its inaugural secondary schools MTB Challenge on Wednesday afternoon, August 29. The Challenge comprises five races across five weeks where the school team with the most points wins the MTB Challenge Trophy and a GoPro HD Hero 2 Sports video camera. We will also be awarding medals to the fastest male and female in their age groups and various spot prizes.

The challenge starts with a team time trial on the Waipa entrance side of the Whakarewarewa Forest, followed by a team relay on a Tree Trust circuit. Race three will be an urban eliminator, where riders have the opportunity to "phang it" [go all out] around the Waiariki campus. Race four is an individual time trial on Waiariki's cross country course and the series culminates with a mass start race back in the forest.

Red Stag Bike Squad member Carl Jones has designed and built the Waiariki cross country course - this circumnavigates our golf training facility on Old Taupo Rd and includes an impressive rock garden feature. Ian Piebenga and the team at Reporoa Permapine have generously donated the course's track markers enabling us to put the finishing touches on the track for its formal induction at the Secondary Schools Challenge.

A Facebook page has been set up for those riders who would like further information: http://www.facebook.com/#!/WAOS.MTB.Challenge Look out for the GoPro HD video's of Red Stag Bike Squad members riding the respective courses so you can get a preview of what you are in for. Each race video will be posted the week before.

So if you're a budding Olympian or if you just want to give MTB a crack - we would love to see you there.