Glenn Haden says it was a “real mental battle” to stay focused. Photo / Cycling Tom
A Whanganui 42-year-old is in the record books after a 60-minute sprint at the Grassroots Trust Velodrome in Cambridge.
Cyclist Glenn Haden clocked up 52.784km in an hour, a New Zealand record for any age, and a world record for those aged 40 and over.
Haden, part of the Coupland’s–Cycling Tom racing team and a professional firefighter, said he had been thinking about attempting the hour for years.
“The summers kept sliding by and I hadn’t done anything about it,” he said.
“I was scheduled to go down to the Tour of Southland in October, but we got hit with horrendous weather and it got postponed.
“I’d done all the winter mileage, so I thought I could use it for some sort of purpose.”
He said he had a rehearsal at the Whanganui velodrome and signs were promising.
With the help of Cycling NZ commissaire John McDonnell, formerly of Whanganui, the Cambridge facility was booked for December 12.
“I think the short timeframe worked well. If I knew it was happening in eight months, it would have consumed me,” Haden said.
“We got up there and just got it done.”
Whanganui Cycling Club patron Ron Cheatley travelled with Haden to Cambridge.
He said if the record was going to be broken, “everything had to be detailed and perfect”.
“You’re allowed one person trackside, so I set the schedule and gave him information every two or three laps, and made sure he wasn’t going too fast or too slow,” Cheatley said.
“We also had Noel Anderson, [Olympic cycling medallist] Gary Anderson’s father, recording the laps, and Jono Hamlin, another Whanganui boy.
“He used to be the national sprint coach. Jono was helping with preparation and getting ice jackets on and off him at the right time.”
Haden said it was a “real mental battle” to stay focused for about 211 laps.
His distance was taken from the black line around the bottom of the velodrome, which measures the official length of the track.
“Every time you creep up the track, you’re adding distance that won’t be counted,” Haden said.
“When you’re on the road for a one-hour time trial, you can free-wheel into corners and get out of the seat in little climbs.
“With this, there is a lot of repetition and no reprieve. You’re trying not to move your head a centimetre.”
Cheatley said Haden won the time trial at last year’s Tour of Southland “against all the top pros”.
“That opened a few eyes.
“Glenn’s always been good at that sort of thing, and he knows how to look after himself.
“He’s so determined and a pleasure to work with.”
The previous national record was set by Rob Scarlett on the same track earlier this year, with a distance of 51.623km.
Haden said he could not have broken the records without Cheatley and the rest of his team.
“Jono and I have been super close friends since Form 1 at [Whanganui] Intermediate.
“I was always chasing his tail on bikes growing up, so to have him there was great.”
He was not allowed any water during the attempt, and there was no data on his bike.
Haden said he ate more than 1kg of blended ice before the attempt.
In the lead-up, there were training sessions in a hot shed, wearing a bomber jacket and a beanie.
“In the last few years, especially, they’ve figured out that you can prepare for heat and the body will adapt.
“But it’s not much fun going through the process, I can tell you that.”
He said there “haven’t been many pedal strokes this week”, but training was about to resume for next month’s rescheduled Tour of Southland.
“I’ll also compete in the elite national champs in February, but I’ve got to apply for an exemption because of my age.
“Generally, that’s when we have all our professional riders, most based in Europe, back in New Zealand.
“That’s the big one for me. I’d really like to have a good performance there.”
Cheatley said there were only two or three other riders in New Zealand capable of getting close to Haden over an hour.
“I was pretty confident he would break the record, but not by that much.
“About 50 kids were there watching, cheering and yelling.
“They came piling on to the centre of the track as soon as Glenn finished, getting ready for a training session. That’s how busy [Cambridge Velodrome] is.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is on local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.