When Rhylee Akeroyd (Meridian Blue p/b 99 Bikes) achieved one of the key goals she had been working toward this year on Friday, a national under-23 road race title, there was no time to celebrate her win in Timaru as another target was about 40 hours and an ocean away.
Akeroyd had barely stepped off the podium where she claimed the jersey of a New Zealand champion before she had to snap into action and forgo a nights sleep so that on Sunday morning the final year under 23 rider could line up in Colac for the Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Classic, the second round of racing at the ProVelo Super League.
“As soon as the race was over, I was in the car up to Christchurch to go to the airport, and I was there at 3 a.m. the next morning, so it was definitely a quick turnaround,” Akeroyd told Cyclingnews shortly after a windy and fast edition of the 156km race in Warrnambool.
Missing out on one or the other was never really an option for the 21-year-old as both the national championships and second round of racing in the ProVelo Super League were important stepping stones.
“I'm really hoping to be picked up by a professional team in Europe – that would be the dream and I also really would love to be in Rwanda at the first ever under-23 Women's World Championship race,” said Akeroyd.
“That's a huge goal for me and I knew that taking the silver fern at the Nationals would give me a good opportunity to get selection for that race.”
A good performance in Rwanda at the World Championships, where the under 23 women will have a stand alone race for the first time, would of course help on the path to the first goal of securing a professional contract. Still so could the the ProVelo Super League as the under 23 women’s winner will receive a contract with Liv-AlUla-Jayco.
“As soon as I saw the ProVelo Super League advertised, I knew that I had to be there,” said Akeroyd. “It's so close to home and we don't have anything like this in New Zealand.
“Then I saw that there was a pro contract up for grabs, so I didn't want to die wondering so I knew that I had to be at every single race. It was a given for me.”
And she wasn’t the only one, with Meridan Blue p/b 99 Bikes teammate Kirsty Watts, who took second in the U23 category of the Cycling New Zealand Elite Road National Championships and claimed the time trial title, also making the trip to the Warrnambool Women's Cycling Classic. Both showed little sign that their performances had been compromised by the dash, with Watts 11th and Akeroyd 15th.
So was it worth the sleepless night and quick turnaround?
“100%, of course it was,” said Akeroyd without a second of hesitation.
“I do quite well under fatigue so yeah, I was actually feeling really good out there, probably better than I was feeling on Friday, to be honest.”
Which is more than many of her better-rested rivals could say after tackling the fast edition of the 156km race which was hit by forceful cross and tailwinds. This was familiar territory for Akeroyd.
“I come from Invercargill, at the very bottom of New Zealand, so I've grown up racing in echelons, been blown off the road a couple times, only being a small build, so I knew where to position myself today and I found myself in all the right places.”
