Cycling: Getting best out of riders by remote

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Charlie Walsh's appointment as boss of Cycling New Zealand's high-performance programme has a distinct "Claytons" feel about it.

The 60-year-old Australian, whose exploits off and on the track have been well documented, will remain in Adelaide and run the programme by remote.

Much of the work, it appears, will fall to track coach Max Vertongen and Garry Bell, who oversees the road programme.

"It is not a problem being based here in Australia," Walsh said yesterday. "As chairman of the high-performance board, I will work with board members and the coaches, and come up with a structure appropriate to New Zealand."

Former coaching director Ron Cheatley is a little bemused by the appointment and Walsh's role.

"I guess I haven't come to grips with it and I'm a bit confused," said Cheatley, whose decision to step aside opened the way for Walsh to inherit this new role.

"I'm not sure what Cycling New Zealand can achieve but, like everyone, I'll reserve my judgment until further down the track.

"Charlie Walsh has been in touch with me two or three times, but until I have had time to sit down and discuss things with him, I suppose I'm not really sure what his role involves."

Cheatley said he was "not bagging the appointment" and has enjoyed a long association with Walsh. They began their international coaching careers in 1980, preparing teams for the ill-fated Moscow Olympics.

"I would have been keen to take a role like this, but I wasn't approached," Cheatley said.

Walsh, who cut all ties with Australian cycling before taking up the appointment, said his new role was in the "conceptual stage" and that he would look at how things panned out before agreeing to a fixed-term contract.

He was quick to praise Cheatley for his part in New Zealand's success.

"If Ron had been given the backing I had, he would have been extraordinarily successful," Walsh said. "Like me, he had a hard and direct approach."

It was that attitude which, on more than a few occasions, had Walsh offside with the hierarchy and/or cyclists.

He was often criticised for the way in which he was seen to alienate individuals through his coaching and selection methods.

While his detractors did acknowledge the success he achieved, they were just as quick to point fingers.

In late 1999, Walsh, based at the Australian Institute of Sport, found himself offside with team members who preferred to "do their own thing" in preparing for the world championships in Berlin.

One, time-trial specialist Josh Kersten, spoke out.

"I think it should have changed years ago. It's too late now because [for] the Olympics it should have been a different coach," Kersten said at the time. "I think it's just too late and the head coach [Walsh] has been there too long."

Walsh and top Australian women cyclists Lucy Tyler-Sharman and Kathy Watt were often at loggerheads.

He enjoys a reputation as a hard taskmaster. And he can't wait to work with New Zealand cyclists.

He sees many New Zealanders as being in the same mould as high-profile Australian road riders Stuart O'Grady and Phil Anderson.

"They were hard, tough," Walsh said. "Fierce athletes who were very coachable."

Walsh says he has a philosophy of sorting out the demands of specific events - psychologically and technically - and then having the conviction to go after them.

"This might mean a slight change in the focus of cycling as it has been in New Zealand. But we have to be prepared to work from the bottom up if we are going to fully realise the potential and get the performances we want."

Involved with the AIS from 1987 to last year, Walsh, who set up Australia's initial coaching curriculum in 1980, is keen to hold seminars to get the message across.

He will be in New Plymouth for the national road championships on October 19 and 20, when he will meet the high-performance board. While he will not have a hands-on role - he is not expected to be at next year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester - he will be involved in other ways.

He will, as an example, host a workshop in Invercargill after the road championships.

There is little doubt the flamboyant Walsh has something to offer. Whether he is able to come up with what is required from far away is yet to be seen.