It was a perfect evening for the first Individual Time Trial (ITT) in the Women’s & Juniors Summer Series of racing. And what an awesome turnout we had from the women. 24 keen women turned up, most never having raced a time trial before – so big thumbs up for getting out there and giving it a go! The course was around the scenic bays from
Firstly - highlights of 2007. Yes I know it’s well into 2008 now but during our new year celebrations a friend asked what were your highlights of 2007 and my first thought was what a fantastic year. My top three moments were...
Helping the Wellington Womens Hockey team win the National Hockey League and in doing so win Wellington Team of the Year;
Getting an amazing job at the New Zealand Olympic Committee; and
Running the Great Wall of China Marathon.
I finished two papers at University last year but had to pull the pin on the Mandarin with the new job. Bit of a shame really but I'm really glad that I started and would one day like to pick it up again. I'm coaching 4 women mountain bikers, continue to run the Capitelles women's group and I'm back on the PNP Club Committee so there's still plenty of involvement with cycling. I resigned from the Board of the YWCA as I didn't have enough time to make a difference in the organisation and I'm still doing the odd speaking engagement.
The New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants sponsored my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in 2006 and wrote an article about my build up to the Commonwealth Games. It was fantastic to have their support so that I could continue developing myself professionally and retain my membership and qualification while also continue to compete. They wanted to do a follow up now that I've retired which you can read here. It focuses on my role as Team Manager of the Wellington Women's Hockey Team and my Marathon on the Great Wall of China.
With little time spent on the bike I was out for other adventures. 4 of us decided to run/walk the Southern Crossing - 25km or 10 hours from Otaki to Kaitoke. 2 started at Kaitoke and 2 of us started from Otaki, met in the middle and exchanged car keys. It was hellishly windy so we were literally crawling along the tops hanging onto the tussock. I can laugh now about how many times we were blown over.... but at the time, it was pretty scary! Here are some pics from the Southern Crossing
My first time at the Wellington Rugby 7's was an absolute blast. We were the Evanjandalists!
I did my first rogaine with Paul Chaplow and Barryn Westfield as team itchy & scratchy in February. The Eastbourne Rogaine was a unique "any 12 hours in 18." We started at 7pm and were doing pretty well in the first 6 hours planning on only being out there for 8 hours then coming back in for a nap before finishing it off in the morning. Our plan which would gain us maximum bonus points never came to fruition, instead we lost 250 points by being 24 minutes late and only just missed disqualification! Anyway, it was quite an experience being my longest race ever and thanks to the guys for letting me tag along and for putting up with me!
Later in February five of us headed away to China for my first, but the Planning group's, 3rd and final site visit. China was looking good - infrastructure well in place and Olympic Villages almost complete. It's so important to meet face to face with our Chinese liaisons, to plan our team space in the Village, to arrange our team function and understand what other issues we may face at Games time. We spent 10 days visiting Hong Kong (Equestrian Village), Qingdao (Sailing Village) and Beijing and the hospitality was fantastic. We were extremely well fed - which wasn't good for the waistline!!!
At the end of our site visit I headed off on my own to Xian to see the amazing Terracotta
Warriors and in search of some down time on Mt Hua. Mt Hua or Huashan
On ANZAC weekend we took the mountain bikes and headed to Roto-Vegas for the NZ Single Speed Championships. Well, I conveniently left my SS at home and took my geared bike as I knew my fitness wasn't up to the race and I purposely didn't enter the race (entries closed a week before).
SSing is sooooooh much fun. I love it. The freedom of no gears, the smoothness, the quietness, the simpleness, the pain of the climbs, the physicality of it - you can't be lazy. Big ups to Graeme Simpson for lending me his primo bike. Here I am with fellow Scott riders Kat Lawton and Jim Murray.
In May Matt Chisholm & Close Up did an article on my job with the NZOC and returning "home" to China... I talk about my ancestry and how special it is for me to go to China. It's amazing that from about 3 hours of filming over in the Wairarapa we get 4 minute air time. Here's the blurb and a link to the video.
Olympian returning home
The Olympics kick off in August with thousands of athletes converging on Beijing to test themselves on the world stage. For most it is the biggest event of their lives. For little known former Olympian mountain biker Robyn Wong these games have huge significance despite retiring from competition two years ago. Working for the New Zealand Olympic Committee she is not only responsible for getting our team to Beijing and creating an environment for it to win, but she is also going home - back to the country her ancestors left for a better life more than 100 years ago.
Robyn Wong will also be instrumental in getting some others to Beijing as well. She is on the panel which decides which athletes get to bring two family members or friends along with them. Johnson & Johnson is stumping up the prize and you can take part as well by nominating the team members you think deserve having a little support in China with them. You could also win a little something for yourself.
Close Up Story, TV One, Wednesday May 28, 2008
Click on "Going home with the Olympics" under Related Video
We've since selected the families that won the J&J packages and it will be aired on Close Up this week.
The Wellington Sports Awards were held in May and thanks to Accor I was thrilled to be there to see our Hockey Girls win the Team of the Year award. Suze, as always, spoke very well and I was very proud of our team.
"The Wellington Women’s hockey team produced one of the great turnarounds in
It was Olympic Day on June 24. I felt privileged to speak to the Olympians Club in Christchurch which was very inspiring for me. 40 Olympians from 1964 through to 2006 gathered to celebrate the founding day in 1894 when Pierre de Coubetin re-established the Olympic Games.
Well with the chilly weather that hit the country this weekend it sure has been an ideal weekend to catch some sport on Sky - AB's had a great win over South Africa in the Tri Nations, the Wimbledon finals continue tonight and Valverde took out Stage 1 of the Tour de France. And it's now only 32 days until the Games begin!
I will be blogging during the Games - you'll be able to follow these here. There'll be some great read on the Team Blogs so check them out.
Until then, take care, stay warm and Bring on Beijing.
O mi god it is so cold! The weekend's riding was wet, muddy and did I mention it was cold? Our roadie on Sunday morning was in 2 degrees for the first hour... it then warmed up to 6 degrees!
Well I've finally got a heap of photo's up on flickr from my marathon on the Great Wall of China... Photo's
Life is gradually starting to get a little quieter. I purposely haven't found any new sporting goals so that I can get on top of some study and continue exploring different career opportunities. I'm finding the Mandarin studies very challenging to say the least. After 4 months we've learnt more than 100 words and expressions, 40 key sentences and 60 written characters... it's still a long way to go if I need to know 5,000 characters to read a newspaper!!! A big thanks to my lecturers who were very accommodating with my trip to Beijing and allowing me extensions on my assignments and mid year tests. I've finished my Chinese Civilisation paper now and happy to get an A-. I loved the course and only disappointed that it was only one trimester. Anyway if you're interested in reading my 1500 word essay on the Great Wall of China I'll put it up here soon. Alongside my Chinese language paper at Vic Uni I'm picking up a "Business Chinese" paper this semester at Massey Uni. This is really going to keep me busy!
The weekend before on Sunday May 6 was the Meridian Energy kids bike jam held at Trentham Memorial Park. I was asked to lead some of the kids around a 5km course. Of course all the 12 year olds wanted to take me on! I didn't have to battle quite so hard with the 6 year olds :-) It was a fun day out and despite the rain there was a huge turnout of around 700 kids. Now all we need to do is to encourage them to keep on riding. Here's an article from the Hutt Leader - page 1 and 2.
The day prior I raced the Crazyman duathlon, more well known for the multisport event since it is part of the national multisport series. Since I don't paddle (though not through lack of some people strongly urging me to) I opted for the 18km mountain run followed by a 34km mountain bike. I won the women's class in 3 hours 52 minutes - 1:45 for the run (including transition) and 2:07 for the MTB, taking 18 minutes off my 2006 time (5 minutes off the run and 13 minutes off the bike). This year the competition was very competitive especially after Fleur Pawsey (2007 Coast to Coast Champion) had a mechanical with her boat, and quickly changed her entry and made it for the duathlon start. She kicked me severely on the run with a seven minute margin, but I clawed it back on the bike to reverse the tables and win by seven minutes. A video clip on the home page gives you an idea of how crazy the event really is. Big thanks to organisers Michael Jacques and John Cussins who put on another fantastic event and who are always very welcoming and look after me. Photo's can be found here searching under race number 236.
Scott Karapoti Classic on Saturday March 3rd.... (to be continued)
It would've been downright wrong to miss the final round of the National MTB series since the race was held in my playground on Mt
We spent our final night in Beijing at the Great Wall Marathon Gala, a delicious dinner and formal presentation for all participants. Truck loads of fine food, unlimited bubbly stuff and imported beers, just what one needs to recover from a marathon. NOT! It was a fantastic opportunity to spend some time with new found friends and laugh at the experience of running on the Wall. The funniest thing was watching the walking styles as there were some pretty sore people hobbling around. Mike, gutted that I bet him in the marathon, proved he still had it beating me up the stairs to the after function at a local bar. It was a fun night. It was sad to leave behind my new friends but I'm sure we'll keep in touch. Here's a pic of Tracey and I with the winner of the Men's marathon and new German friend Brigid promoting some German wine.Our trip to Beijing was too short, too crammed packed with activity and just not enough down time. I would love to go back. And now that it's a few days since the marathon, "never say never," as I may consider doing the marathon again...
It was another early morning rise after the final evening partying in Beijing, heading to the airport at 7am for our flight to Kuala Lumpur. Sleep deprived I was glad that I had 4 seats to spread out. I chose to go budget style in accommodation with the Red Palm hostel down the road from the Radius International where Cam and Trace stayed. Tracey was only staying one night while Cam and I were exploring the city over 3 days. The dollars saved in accommodation meant I could face my fears and dive with the sharks. I know - crazy, but adventurous, exciting, and really I didn't know how I would fare. I have never dived before but the entire experience was unreal. My instructor Sharil was very clear and I felt I was in good hands. No kicking, no waving of arms and make eye contact with the sharks. Mmmmmn, I wonder if that was to scare the living day lights out of me! He controlled everything everything except my equilizing and mask clearing. He guided me around from above, except leaving me for 10 minutes alone with the sharks. I had to kneel on the bottom (deepest was 4 metres) and let the sharks, giant groupers, moray eels, rays and multitude of other fish swim past me. There was one black dotted white grouper like fish that was curious and stayed with me for quite some time. To eyeball the sharks, feel the toughness of their skin, feel the softness of the furry eels, have rays flap past me... Wow! I dived for around 45 minutes. It was a fantastic introduction and now I want to become certified and do more diving.
Here are some pics of the sand tiger sharks in the aquarium and a pic of the teeth I collected while diving. Click here for the KL Aquaria website.
Kuala Lumpur was a very interesting buzzing city to explore with so much shopping from expensive malls to the cheap rip off night markets; a diverse range of British, Chinese and Indian architecture and a real blend of cultures. Everything was super cheap including the raft of local foods, taxis, foot reflexology (aka "super painful foot massage"), and many of the tourist attractions were free including the walk along the Petronas twin tower bridge, the Batu caves and the heap of Mosques and Temples.So, now I'm on my way home. It's been an amazing trip!
So, why was I about to run a marathon, my first marathon, along the
During the afternoon as we lay broken in the square I caught up with some of my tour group and everyone was just buzzing from their marathon experience, each with a story or two to tell. Two male friends were gutted that for my first marathon I bet them. I like that. Tracey completed the 10km in just over 2 hours, her first ever sporting event. And
No opportunity to update you all yesterday as it was one full on day of sightseeing. I will return to elaborate when I get some more time but briefly it was really fascinating observing the beautiful craftsmanship of the buildings and temples. It was also pretty crazy how many tourists there were! We visited exquisite gardens, had a lesson and sampled the local cha (tea), ate Peking duck, and took in an Opera. The mind blowing experience of the day was seeing up close a father and his 2 young children (not much more than 10 years old) jump the ropes surrounding the National flag, drop to the ground, bow their heads to the concrete and start wailing. Within seconds the guards and police were pulling them from the ground and forcing them away. I couldn’t understand but I believe they were protesting at the Government for taking their mother.
The Great Wall Inspection
The objective of today’s inspection was to give us the opportunity to walk the 3.5km along the wall then giving any runner or walker the chance to change their event. This year, the 8th year of the event, there are 450 people partaking in the full marathon, 450 in the half marathon and 237 in the 5km and 10km walks. Participants are from 37 different countries with one person having done all seven Great Wall Marathons, and there is even a runner with a heart transplant doing the full marathon!
The Huangyaguan Great Wall is to the north of Ji County in the
Long before we arrived at the Great Wall, we could easily see where we were heading. Off the bus I stood still, frozen by the magnitude of the Wall. I felt so insignificant beneath the towering mountain, viewing from East to West the Wall meandering its way along the craggy mountain ridges until it drops out of sight over yet another mountain. It’s an amazing sight of which I don’t think I can find the words to do the Wall justice.
After taking about an hour to walk (yes walk) the three or so kilometers and taking a heap of photos, I stood in the fort waiting for lunch with shaking legs. Oh mi god! I was so relieved to hear that other people had reacted the same way. There isn’t going to be much running along the Wall – it’s so steep, with all sized steps, and it’s so narrow in some places with no side wall and a sheer drop to the side that we queued in line to carefully descend in single file. It’s going to be one tough marathon.
Bring it on. I can’t wait until Saturday.
After 23 hours of traveling via Kuala Lumpur, Tracey, Cameron and I were pleased to arrive at our hotel in Beijing. The Xiaoxiang hotel is in the Chongwen area and not far from the Temple of Heaven. We settled in, cleaned ourselves up then ventured out into the streets of Beijing. First thought was drawn to the haze and hue of grey making the city appear dull. Next thought was the calamity yet the calmness. Despite the rather chaotic and noisy traffic changing lanes within centimetres of one another and honking their horns to indicate their presence, there was a calmness about the city as the locals went about their usual day, many on bikes, some laden with produce, others waiting for buses (though most are already jammed packed with suits and well dressed people), then others are strolling along the dusty pavements and crossing the 6 lanes of traffic with ease and without impatience. I can't wait to explore...
We spent the afternoon wandering the six floors of the Silk Street Pearl Markets with everything you could ever want to buy in China - from paintings to footwear, precious jewelery to electronics. Of course many of the big names are not genuine. And these sellers, of which it is interesting to note are mainly female, are very pushy in making a sale. It is advised not to ask a price unless one is truly interested in haggling and buying the goods! My favourite purchase of the day was a painting of the Great Wall personalised with my Chinese name and Beijing in characters. Here's "David" as he begins the painting...
It's been a long day with only 4 hours sleep last night so I'm off to bed. We're touring tomorrow - Tiananmen Square, Mao's Mausoleum, Forbidden City, Coal Hill, Temple of Heaven, Hongqiao market and we even take in the Beijing Opera. Can't wait, it's going to be a full on day.
It’s not an easy decision to retire from sport and definitely not one made overnight. It takes time to ensure it’s the right decision at the right time and to know it’s for the right reasons. For me, starting cycling at a late age, I have done so many things I never dreamed about and I have absolutely no regrets. I left it all out there, I put my best foot forward by doing everything that I could do, and I was the best that I could be. Now, I am excited about the next chapter of my life and with wide eyes, optimism and positivity I know I’ll find other open doors.
Being an elite athlete has emphasised what is important to me but to be sure I wanted to take some time out to be certain of my next steps. I know I am driven by challenge, and I know I want to make a difference in other people’s lives.
So what have I done over the past six months?
Straight after Worlds I did some public speaking at some school sports awards (Chilton St James, Wellington Girls, and
At the last minute I decided to utilise my Gold Prime Ministers Scholarship (a scholarship to be used after retiring from sport for study up to 3 years) and enrolled at
Despite not racing internationally I don’t think I’d ever give up riding my bikes. I love it too much. So over the past few months I’ve still been involved in races and events.
I was approached to do a group coaching course for some girls wanting to race the Karapoti training in March. I had nine keen girls who were up for an intensive 10 week program (from January 3 to March 3) who were so much fun to work with. Since then I’ve taken on some individual coaching which I’m enjoying.
From 24-28th January I was the Team Manager of 5 guys in Team Petone Water for the Tour of Wellington. I was extremely proud of the guys – Josh England (Auckland) getting 3rd in Stage 3 and 18th in GC; Paul Odlin (Christchurch) being awarded the most aggressive rider, 6th in the ITT and 20th in GC; Don Oakly (Auckland) 47th; Andrew Williams (Christchurch) 55th and unfortunately Ross Stewart (Christchurch) had unbelievably bad luck and timing with a puncture on stage 5 and thus DNF’d. The team finished 9th overall.
PNP 2 day tour, February 3 & 4
National MTB race on Mt
Scott Karapoti Classic on Saturday March 3rd
Hawkins Hill Climb, Sunday April 15
Crazyman Duathlon, Saturday May 5
Bikewise Kids bike Jam, Sunday May 6
Cateye Moonride 12 hour teams MTB race, Saturday May 12
So in between cycling and running and the occasional bikram yoga class, I also played Thursday night Social Basketball in the Women’s C Grade for a bit of fun and since I wasn’t subbed often, a really solid workout. Somehow I’ve agreed to play for a Wellington Sports and Cultural Centre team in the upcoming Queens Birthday tournament.
Now, onto the big adventure...
Tomorrow I head off to
Finally, check out this video and some You Tube videos in the media section of the official Great Wall Marathon site Now, I’m really worried!
To enter the Marathon one has to be part of a tour in
I’ve got two more exciting ventures to talk about but that will wait until after
Until soon,
Robyn