New Zealand Para Cycling Team named to compete at 2019 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships

Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) is pleased to announce the selection of the New Zealand Para Cycling Team to compete at the 2019 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships (Emmen, Netherlands) from 12 – 15 September.

The team of 10 Para cyclists is headlined by five Paralympians including Rio 2016 Paralympic silver and bronze medallist Emma Foy (Marsden Wheelers – Whangarei) and Rio 2016 debutants Amanda Cameron (Gisborne), Hannah van Kampen (Ramblers – Hawkes Bay), Stephen Hills (New Plymouth) and Fraser Sharp (Tauranga). They will be joined by Sarah Ellington (Auckland), Nicole Murray (Te Awamutu), Nina Wollaston (Counties Manukau) as sighted pilot to Amanda Cameron, Eltje Malzbender (Morrinsville Wheelers) and Rory Mead (USA).
Malcolm Humm (PNZ High Performance Director) said, “This group is reflective of the huge amount of work that the team at Paralympics New Zealand has been putting in behind the scenes to ensure we have opportunities to bring talented Para cyclists through the sport and onto the international stage. With only 445 days to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, this is a critical event as we aim to gain UCI points to secure athlete slots for New Zealand at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and the Para cyclists continue to build on recent performances at international competition.“

Rio 2016 silver and bronze medallist Emma Foy returned to Para cycling in June last year after taking a one-year break to refresh and focus on her law degree at Waikato University. However, the draw of the sport meant she has returned with renewed vigour and with sighted pilot Hannah van Kampen winning the Women’s B 3km Individual Pursuit and becoming world champions at this year’s UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships. Van Kampen will bring her 3 years of experience as a sighted pilot including having competed on the tandem with Amanda Cameron at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. 

Sarah Ellington (Auckland) journey to international competition has been fast – she attended a ACC Paralympics New Zealand Open Day in Auckland following the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. She was subsequently invited to a talent identification camp, selected to the Para Cycling Development Squad and represented New Zealand in August 2017 – all in less than a year. Ellington works part time as an outdoor instructor at the Marine Education and Outdoor Centre on the North Shore.

Paralympian Amanda Cameron (Gisborne) and her sighted pilot Nina Wollaston (Counties Manukau) will go into the UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships looking to build on solid performances in 2018 with other tandem partners. This will be the first time Cameron and Wollaston have competed at a UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships together. 

Stephen Hills (New Plymouth), was New Zealand’s first ever trike Para cyclist at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. In 2017 he won 2 silver medals at this event. Two years on he will want to go one better aiming to climb to the top of the podium and beat rival and world champion Hans-Peter Durst of Germany.

 

Eltje Malzbender (Morrinsville Wheelers), will join Stephen Hills as the second trike Para cyclist in the team heading to the Netherlands. A former national champion runner in her birth country of Germany, she will compete at her second edition of this event. Malzbender has been in the Para cycling programme for nearly two years and initially turned to Para cycling as a form of rehabilitation following a road accident while out cycling in 2016 where she sustained a traumatic brain injury.
Former Wellingtonian hand cyclist, Rory Mead (USA) made his international debut in the New Zealand Para Cycling Team at the 2018 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships producing solid results against strong international competition. Based in the USA Rory was a national mountain bike champion and was competing in the sport he loved when he sustained a spinal cord injury. 

Waikato based Para cyclist Nicole Murray (Waikato) has been in the Para Cycling Programme for a number of years, competing at a variety of national and international competitions. She made her international debut in Rio de Janiero at the 2018 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships. Nicole exceeded all expectations including her own, winning a silver medal and smashing many personal best times.

Rio 2016 Paralympian Fraser Sharp (Tauranga) will return to the UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships this year after an absence of 3 years from this event. Sharp took time out to consider his future after Rio 2016 and has recently returned to the international scene competing at a UCI Para Cycling Road World Cup in Belgium last month where he secured 2 top 10 placings across the road race and time trial events.