4EVER team members Harrison Brown and Paul Wright.

LAURA WILLIAMSON

Three of the teams racing in today’s Bike Wanaka 10-hour Dean’s Bank race are part of an innovative programme with local origins that is helping young mountain bikers compete at the international level.

There used to be two choices for mountain bikers hoping to race World Cups and crack a pro contract: be selected by Cycling NZ, the sport’s national body, or go it alone, as a "privateer”.

In mountain biking, a "privateer” is a self-supported athlete who looks after herself or himself on the competition circuit, which as well as coming up with the money to compete, includes managing travel logistics, finding a place to sleep every night, and keeping bikes race-ready.

4EVER Racing NZ aims to change this. Launched late last year by local cycling enthusiast Scott Wright, 4EVER is a non-profit race team supported by 4EVER (4E) Bikes from the Czech Republic; the aim is to grow the numbers of Kiwi riders racing at World Cups and World Championships by making it easier for them to get into the game.

The team’s current roster includes six-time Motatapu mountain bike race winner and Commonwealth Games cyclist Kate Fluker, former Mount Aspiring College student Paul Wright, as well as local teens Ty Sarginson, Harrison Brown and Campbell Wright.

Team manager Melissa Newell, who is based in Wanaka and used to teach Physical Education at MAC, said the idea behind the team is to support athletes with "no national body between sponsors and athletes.”

One issue with the mainstream system, which in New Zealand is managed by Cycling NZ, is that a significant portion of funding can get eaten up by administration costs. "Our idea is to make sure the athletes are getting the money,” she said. 4EVER pays for the athletes’ training, travel and the majority of their gear, the only cost for the cyclists themselves is their bikes, which 4EVER provides at a heavily-discounted rate.

Melissa said the team offers a new alternative, allowing mountain bikers to work towards going pro without having to either be a part of Cycling NZ’s national performance programme, or to go it alone.

"We make sure the athletes are eating good food and are not limited by driving in van for 10 hours, then having to sleep in a van, then getting up and competing against the best in the world. It’s just the basics really,” she said. 

Melissa explained that under current system, athletes who can’t afford to travel to compete internationally and gain the UCI points necessary to win Cycling NZ selection tend to get left behind. "Our idea is to take calculated risks on athletes based on their true potential,” not, she said, based only on race points.

The team came about when Scott Wright, who lives in Hawea Flat, was in Europe supporting his son Paul who was competing as an under-19 racer. He ended up meeting a woofer from the Czech Republic who connected him with staff at the 4EVER factory. "Boom, we were launched,” Melissa said.

Another difference in 4EVER’s approach is a "complete open door policy” when it comes to finances. At any time, any of the sponsors and athletes have access to the financial records of the team - they can see where money is being spent and why. Currently, the team’s only waged employee is Melissa; the rest goes back to the athletes.

This year, 4EVER sent three mountain bikers to compete on the World Cup cross country circuit in Europe, Paul Wright, Rotorua’s Taylor Johnston and Charlotte Rayner from Auckland, and the signing of Kate Fluker, who is gunning for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, is a sign the model is working.

As well as racing at Dean’s Bank, the 4EVER cyclists are at a team camp this weekend, with 15 athletes coming to Wanaka from around the country to attend. Mountain Bike New Zealand president Gil Peters spoke to the team, as well as former junior downhill world champion Scarlett Hagen, and riders have been doing gym work at Latitude 44 Fitness, pump track training at Lismore Bike Park, as well as racing today.

"Trying to create something that actually works for the athlete is paramount,” Melissa said. "It’s about not just benefiting someone else's model.”

PHOTO: Supplied