A young Luggate athlete pushed through heavy rain and strong winds during Cyclone Dovi to win the New Zealand Cycling Under 23 time trial race at the Cycling NZ Elite Road Nationals in Cambridge this past weekend.

Kim Cadzow (20) won the 32.8km time trial in her age group event with a time of 48:33, and an average speed of 40.6kmph.

“I was the first to start the race and within about four minutes of me starting it absolutely bucketed down,” she said.

It rained throughout the hill climb, making the descent “quite technical”, Kim said.

Former Mount Aspiring College student Kim was a triathlete until April 2021, when she began focusing on cycling with the help of her Wānaka coach Patrick Harvey.

Kim racing in Cambridge.

Kim has made a big impact in the short time she has been cycling. 

“I’m pretty green and this is my first year trying to make it as a pro. This has been pretty cool for me because it helps me get noticed overseas by some high end teams and get my name out there,” she said.

Kim also competed in and won a second race over the weekend, the Under 23 elite category national title and jersey, and she was third fastest overall among the older women (over 23) on world tour teams -  which Kim described as “pretty cool”.

She took two hours and 32 minutes to complete the 90kmph course, despite 45kmph winds which gusted to 60-70kmph, and trees across the road which meant the original course had to be changed.

“It was the most hectic day out,” Kim said. “There was a ridiculous amount of humidity and rain.”

Kim has signed to team Torelli and will travel to the UK for Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) races in France, Spain, Italy and Belgium.

In April, on her way to the UK, she will stop in Australia for the Oceania Championships.

Kim said her family have put “a lot of effort and time” into her training, and she thanked Patrick for his coaching which helped her improve in “leaps and bounds”.

PHOTOS: Supplied