Kiwi world No.1 BMX rider Sarah Walker has her first competitive hit-out of the season this weekend, the first step on the road to the London Olympics.
Walker, who topped last year's World Cup supercross rankings, will compete on home turf in the Cambridge International, a UCI Oceania event carryingOlympic qualifying points.
The two-day event in Walker's home base in Cambridge has attracted riders from Australia and China as well as the best of the Kiwi competition.
The elite women's field includes Australia's Lauren Reynolds, who was second behind Walker in last year's Oceania Championships and third when Walker won the Olympic test event at the London Supercross last year. Another on the start line is 19-year-old Lu Yan, one of the rising stars of the burgeoning sport in China, who finished second in last year's Asian Championships.
For Walker, it is a return to competition as she prepares for the start of her international campaign that includes the supercross world cups and world championships, with all roads leading to the London Olympics.
The men's field this weekend is headed by Tauranga's Kurt Pickard, who dominated the recent UCI Oceania event near Pukekohe last month.
He will face competition from China's Li Xiaogang, sixth in the 2011 Asian Championships, and fellow BikeNZ high performance riders Kurt James, Daniel Franks, Nick Fox and Matt Cameron.
