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This grew from a sporting club at a university into a team that is now winning medals at a national level. David Jordan explains the story of Sydney Uni-Staminade…

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Earlier today Cycling Australia outlined its plans to work with VicHealth on a program to encourage more women to participate in sport. ‘This Girl Can’ is the name the campaign and it’s all about promoting sport and active lifestyles.

New CEO of CA, Steve Drake, was quoted in the official release and cycling is one of many sports getting involved with This Girl Can.

“Cycling Australia is committed to raising the profile of women in our sport to help inspire thousands of Victorian women to get active. We are committed to getting Victorian women out on the bike and having fun as part of this program,” said Drake in the official release. “The campaign that VicHealth has developed is a testament to their commitment to get women of all backgrounds and ages active.”

Meanwhile, up in NSW there is a growing team of enthusiasts committed to getting women not only on the bike and enjoying the activity of riding, but racing and savouring the thrill of winning.

David Jordan, the manager of the Sydney Uni-Staminade team, responded to our 10-question poll about participation in the NRS in 2018. Below are his answers…

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From humble beginnings to fantastic equipment in 2018…

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  1. Can you please provide a list of riders on your team?

Gina Ricardo

Gina Ricardo is a long term member of Sydney Uni Velo Club. She is 23 years old, and a graduate of Sydney University, with a Bachelor of Commerce. While at Uni, she received a Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness Elite Athlete Program scholarship. ‘G’ now works in marketing at a well-known online cycling retailer. While relatively small in stature, Ricardo is has hungry as a humming bird. She raced with NSWIS-Sydney Uni in 2017, and previously raced with Boss Racing.

Nicknames: G

Favourite ride: Kangaroo Valley, NSW

 

 

Emily Watts

Seventeen-year-old Emily Watts is a year 12 student at The Scots School in Bathurst. She started out running in Little Athletics and ended up doing triathlon. She then started mountain biking, and then competed at a national junior level in triathlon before cycling took over. Emily has been a silver medallist for her age group in the team time trial, before the track summoned her where she has performed in the team pursuit on the track, winning bronze in the discipline in Tasmania. This is her first foray into NRS racing.

Nicknames: Watt Bomb

Favourite ride: Gravel riding around Jenolan Caves

 

 

Emma Coral Roberts

Emma Roberts is a 28-year-old multidisciplinary sporting professional. Currently working in logistics management for the Wild Oats Yachting organisation, Emma normally lives in South West Rocks on the NSW mid-north coast when she is not working hard at the Wild Oats base in Woolwich in Sydney, or out sailing. She has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland. Emma is has been recuperating from a hard crash in training late in 2017 but is back on the bike and started racing again in February. She raced in 2017 with NSWIS-Sydney Uni.

 

Nicknames: Coral, Tractor

Favourite ride: Gold Hill in Boulder, Colorado (20km of dirt climb up into the Flat Iron mountains – she says there is “an epic pie shop at the top” to reward the willing).

 

 

Chloe Heffernan

Chloe Heffernan is along term resident of ‘the Gong’ – ie. Wollongong, an hour’s drive south of Sydney. She turned 19 in February, when she will be commencing tertiary studies at the University of Wollongong. She started cycling at eight with her brother and sisters. Bike racing runs in her family as Chloe’s father raced as a junior, growing up across the road from the Unanderra Velodrome. Chloe is a proud resident of the Illawarra (which is said to mean ‘High Place by the sea’ in the local indigenous language), an she enjoys training up Mt Keira as “I basically live at the base of it”. This is Heffo’s first year in the NRS.

Nickname: Heffo

Favourite ride (outside Wollongong): Mount Hotham when it’s not snowing

 

 

Jade Colligan

Jade Colligan is a 22-year-old Uni student, studying for a Bachelor of Exercise Science at the University of Wollongong. She is a long-term member of the Nowra Velo Club, and even longer term resident of the Jervis Bay region of the NSW south coast. Jade was a member of the NSWIS-Sydney Uni team in 2017.

Favourite ride: Cambewarra and Berry Mountain loop (yes, involves hills)

 

 

Amy Vesty

Amy Vesty is 35 and was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. She now resides in the inner west of Sydney. She is studying for a Bachelor of Health in Nutrition through Latrobe University Open Learning. Vesty is new to the NRS, but enjoys the less-than-smooth surface at Heffron Park in Sydney’s east for hard crit racing.

Nickname: Vespa

Favourite ride: Royal National Park/Austinmeer (south of Sydney)

 

 

Georgie Whitehouse

Georgina (Georgie) Whitehouse entered the NRS series in 2017 with fireworks. She was previously a promising junior triathlete in NSW before an accident saw her off the bike for a few years. At the end of 2016 she decided to see how far she could push herself, jumped back on the bike, joined the well-known Sydney Uni Velo Club women’s racing program and then the NSWIS-Sydney Uni women’s team in the middle of the year. Georgie is studying for a Graduate Diploma in Psychology at the University of Sydney in 2018, and is a current scholarship holder in the Elite Athlete Program at Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness.

Nickname: G, Legs

Favourite ride: Beaches ride in her home town, Forster on the NSW mid-north coast

 

 

Abby Sneddon

Abby Sneddon, 24, is qualified in nutrition and dietetics, and is currently studying to be a Pharmacy Assistant. She lives near Lake Macquarie on the NSW Central Coast, having been born in nearby Belmont. Abby is a long term member of Sydney Uni Velo Club. ‘Hollywood’ came to cycling through that familiar path of triathlon. For her 21st birthday she received her first serious road bike and has ridden in the NRS since 2015, when she rode for Sydney Uni Women’s team. In 2016 and 2017 she rode with the Roxsalt team (including racing in Europe and America), and joins the Sydney Uni-Staminade team in 2018.

Nickname: Hollywood

Favourite ride: Barrington Tops (NSW mid-north coast hinterland)

 

 

Angela Smith

Angela Smith was introduced to cycling by her father when she was 15. He invited her on a ride, then took her through Bobbin Head as a gentle “introductory ride”. Notwithstanding her protests, she then found herself attending a junior development cycling camp in Bathurst at Mount Panorama and “after a couple of years I signed up for a women’s try the track day at Dunc Gray velodrome”. A member of the NSWIS-Sydney Uni team in 2017, and now 22, Ange rides for Sydney Uni-Staminade in 2018.

 

 

Megan Scott

Megan Scott is a 36-year-old former runner who came to competitive cycling late, after the front wheel to her commuter bike was stolen from outside her house. Walking in to get a new front wheel, she walked out of the bike shop with a new road bike and has not stopped since. Megs is a graduate of the University of Sydney, with a Bachelors degrees in Science, and Law, and a Masters degree in Law, and works for Hall & Willcox, a national law firm.

Nicknames: Megs, Megiddo

Favourite rides: “Hills, big ones please…”

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For more NRS team profiles, click the ‘features’ link on ridemedia.com.au

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  1. Can you please list the staff/management of your team?

  • General Manager: David Jordan (‘Jordo’)
  • Manager (Riders and logistics): Tegan Cox (‘Tegz’)
  • Chief DS: Nathan Bonarius (‘Nate’)
  • DS: Jo Hogan

 

 

  1. Can you please list your title sponsors and what their line of business is?

  • University of Sydney: tertiary education and research
  • Staminade: makers of the original Australian sports drink formula
  • Sydney University Sport & Fitness (team owner): provision of sports and fitness services at the University of Sydney

 

  1. Can you please list your co-sponsors?

  • Sydney Uni Velo Club
  • Trek Bikes, Bontrager
  • Park Bikes
  • Cuore of Switzerland

“We also love our Italian friends at Alba Optics, sports glasses handmade in Italy.”

 

  1. Do you expect that your team will contest all events on the NRS calendar in 2018?

“Yes, that is certainly the plan!”

 

  1. Can you please list relevant social media links that are associated with your team?

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Medallists at the recent NSW criterium championships: Georgia Whitehouse and Gina Ricardo.

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  1. What is your team’s main motivation for being part of the NRS?

“We are committed to providing a sustainable platform for women to race at the national level. In doing so, our aim is to be a development pathway from junior and club racing through to the highest level of racing in Australia, and to be the leading University in cycling. That is, we encourage all of our riders to undertake and complete tertiary studies as a part of the development process.”

 

  1. What could be done to improve the NRS?

“Australia is a big country, all of which deserves to see premier cycle racing. Often, it is too difficult for riders and teams to attend races due to work commitments, and the expense of travelling interstate. We would love to be a position to provide greater travel, equipment and financial support to our riders.”

 

  1. How many years have you and your team been involved in the NRS

“The team in 2018 is the successor to the NSWIS-Sydney Uni team from 2017. Prior to that, Sydney Uni Velo Club had sought to maintain a roster of club riders capable to riding in some NRS races, and had several members riding for other teams such as Specialized, Boss, and Roxsolt locally, and TIBCO (Jo Hogan), Sarah Roy (Orica, now Mitchelton Scott) and Rachel Neylan (now with Movistar).

“In 2017, we partnered with the NSW Institute of Sport with a view to providing that academic and sporting development pathway.

“With the funding changes with Cycling Australia last year, it became apparent that we would have to take over the management of the team ourselves, and find our own commercial sponsors. Hence, Sydney Uni-Staminade.

“All of our staff are volunteers, doing it for the love of the sport.

“Nathan Bonarius is a qualified coach and a member of the Turbo Studio-Bravehearts Racing team. He is a member of Sydney Uni Velo Club.

“Tegan Cox is a long term member of Sydney Uni Velo Club. She is a member of the CA Athletes Commission, and has been involved in the management of women’s NRS teams for several years.

“David Jordan was the founding president of Sydney Uni Velo Club in 2010. He is a former Vice-President of Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness, and is currently a Fellow of the University Senate.

“Jo Hogan, now retired from pro-racing, rode for Team TIBCO-SVB in the USA (2015), previously Bigla Pro Cycling Team (2014). Prior to that she rode for Sengers Ladies, and Bizkaia-Durango.”

 

 

  1. Miscellaneous

“This team rode in the 2018 Santos Women’s Tour, and the NSWIS-Sydney Uni team also rode in the 2017 edition. This year, the team also competed in Cadel’s/Deakin Uni, and in the Jayco-Herald Sun Tour.

“It is our aim to be invited back in 2019.

“We are looking forward to seeing our riders standing on podiums at the national level.”

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