Superb lineup confirmed for Night of Stars

Olympic bronze medallist Simon Van Velthooven will be at the International Night of the Stars show at the Cooks Gardens velodrome in February. Photo/File

Three Olympic bronze medallists, multiple world and junior world champions, and more national titleholders than you can shake a stick at make up the resumes of the elite company taking part in February's International Night of the Stars show at the Cooks Gardens velodrome.

After the announcement was made on Thursday afternoon that national coach Dayle Cheatley, son of Wanganui club life member Ron, had offered his home town the chance to host the major promotion, the list of those attending has been confirmed and makes for impressive reading.

From across the Tasman come Australian international competitors Josh Harrison, Jacob Schmid and Emerson Harwood.

Schmid won both the Sprint and Keirin (racing wheels) titles at the 2012 UCI Juniors Track World Championships, held in Invercargill.

Harwood was runnerup to claim silver in both of those events, while Harrison won gold in the Team Pursuit and bronze in the Madison, which is also team racing.

At those championships, Australia dominated with nine golds among their 17-medal haul.

But a glance at the cast list for the New Zealanders taking part also reveals some heavy artillery.

Most noteworthy among them is Aaron Gate, who won the gold at the 2013 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Belarus in the Men's Omnium, which consists of six different events.

Gate also won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the team pursuit event with teammates Sam Bewley, Marc Ryan, Jesse Sergent and Westley Gough.

Ryan, who has won multiple world championship medals, will also be competing in the Wanganui event.

Another to watch is Simon Van Velthooven, Olympic bronze medallist in the Keirin and silver winner at the World Championships in Kilo (1km time trial).

His thrilling bronze in London, when he finished in a dead heat with Teun Mulder of the Netherlands, was reward for all the training the Manawatu-based Van Velthooven had done at Wanganui's velodrome, where he won three River City Wheel Race championships.

Eddie Dawkins, Sam Webster and Ethan Mitchell were the world championship silver medallists in Team Sprint, and at 9.668 seconds Dawkins holds the record as the country's fastest sprinter, while Mitchell has the fastest standing lap at 17.1 seconds.

Shane Archbold was the 2011 world championships silver medallist in the Omnium.

Others to watch are multiple junior world championship medallists Paige Paterson and Dylan Kennett, along with national champions like Katie Schofield, Pieter Bulling and Team Sprint NZ member Matt Archibald.

The first International Night of the Stars show in Wanganui in six years will be on February 8.

The programme begins around 6.30pm and finishes just after 9pm.