James Howard represented the school at the South Island Secondary Schools’ Cyclocross champs over the weekend.

The event was held at Centennial Park, in Timaru. 

Cyclocross is a unique discipline of cycling that can best described as a cross between road cycling, mountain biking and steeplechase. Races generally take place on a closed circuit in a park or other open land with competitors racing multiple laps. 

Since cyclocross races generally take place in Autumn and winter, they are often plagued with adverse weather conditions such as snow, rain, wind and mud – all of which add to the sport’s allure. This is exactly how it panned out last weekend with Timaru having been inundated with water over the previous week. It was a mud bath! 

This played into the hands of the more skilled riders as staying upright while still moving forward was not easy. James finished 2nd beating a number of strong road cyclists who didn’t have the necessary skills to negotiate the mud.