Cycling: Willers more comfortable after bumpy ride

Marc Willers leads the way at the Oceania Continental Championships. Photo / Getty Images

He took away only sour memories from the Beijing Olympics, but is sure London will be sweeter. He is an international BMX notoriety, who has to masquerade as a phantom golfer. He races in front of thousands in the US and Europe, but is barely known in his own country.

Top Kiwi BMX exponent Marc Willers is currently in the form of his life. He won the Oceania Continental Championships at Pukekohe yesterday, beating a world-class field featuring top Australian and American riders, but it is his exploits Stateside that have got people talking.

In an abridged American season last year, when he joined the US national tour halfway through, he finished second overall, scoring his first event win in October. This season he has won four of the six events so far, to sit in first place ahead of riders drawn from across the globe.

"The last nine months have been really good," says Willers in his laconic style. "It certainly feels like a breakthrough."

His sport is "90 per cent mental", with competitors often evenly matched in terms of bike speed. Willers feels he has conquered the demons that previously would see him fade under pressure.

"It was about trying to figure out what was going on raceday. I used to let the pressure get to me - now I don't think about it."

The boy from Cambridge marked his arrival on the global stage with a world cup win in France in 2007, and ahead of the 2008 Olympics was seen as a possible medallist.

But Beijing was a disaster. He crashed out in two of the three semi-finals and left the arena a broken man.

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened that day," admits Willers. "But I have grown up a lot since then. I think in Beijing I turned up like it was just another race - when obviously it wasn't."

Willers resides in Murrieta, a small city halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It is a popular destination for professional bikers.

So far this year he has raced in Nevada, Oklahoma, Florida and Phoenix.

Shuttling between cities, the tattooed biker has to masquerade as a golfer. In a country obsessed by the sport, golf clubs are the only piece of sporting equipment carried free of charge by airlines; anything else incurs a charge of US$100 (NZ$134) each flight, including connections.

Willers disassembles his BMX and squeezes it into a golf bag, estimating he saves US$400-500 each race weekend.

The races are typically staged in rodeo arenas, with the riders speeding around a 250m-300m track. While the jumps and tricks thrill the fans, Willers estimates 90 per cent of BMX races, especially on the tighter tracks, are won by whoever reaches the first corner first. Speed out of the starting gate is paramount, something he practices religiously.

The meets can attract crowds of up to 5000 spectators, while he once raced in Madrid in front of 13,000. France also draws large attendances, and is one of the hotbeds of the sport, along with Australia, Holland, Latvia and the US.