Thieves ruin weekend in Hawke's Bay for cyclists

It's not the first time Sheldon Gorter and Sam Dobbs made the three and a half hour journey to Napier to compete in a major cycling event, but this occasion had a bitter ending.

The Cambridge residents have usually enjoyed their travels to Hawke's Bay and were there to take part in the Cyclocross NZ Championships.

Cyclocross takes elements from both road and mountain bike racing, something that appealed to both riders, who travel to compete in a majority of events around the country.

Staying in a Napier hostel, the riders woke up on Sunday morning rearing to go for their Elite race, only to discover that their vehicle along with their bikes had been stolen from their car park on Marine Parade.

"We travelled down on Friday night, we spent Saturday practicing on the course - woke up Sunday morning to go and put our bags in the car - only to discover the car's gone with our bikes on it." Gorter said.

His vehicle, a 1997 black Subaru Forester was secure (he thought), locked and there was no evidence of a break-in when they walked to the vacant spot where it had once been.

"Apparently Forester's' are a pretty common car to steal. We're in touch with the police so, hopefully, we will get some good news."

"The bikes were inside, along with our cycling gear and everything. I have insurance which is good, but it's just going through the whole administration process and paperwork that can be a bit prolonging."

The cycling community were quick to jump on board and help Gorter and Dobbs, who were stranded in Napier with no way of getting back to Cambridge.

"The community has been great, there's some really good people helping us out with what's happened and we're getting a lift back to Cambridge which is really nice."

"We're just very lucky, another guy also offered to pick us up and take us to the race as well."

The theft couldn't have occurred at a more inconvenient time as Gorter said they've got races next weekend.

"We've still got a few more races of the season to go, so it's really disappointing."

"We just want to thank the Hawke's Bay cycling community for helping us, they really banded together to assist us through this, so we're both just really grateful."

A police spokesperson confirmed the vehicle had been stolen overnight and enquiries were ongoing."