Cycling: BMX coach staying one step ahead of weather

Ken Cools says there are several riders in the New Zealand squad who are capable of bringing home world titles. Photo / Dean Purcell

It is just as well New Zealand BMX coach Ken Cools has adapted fast to the unpredictable Auckland weather.

In his 18 months in charge of the New Zealand programme, the former Canadian champion has had his lateral thinking tested to come up with ways to keep his athletes active when the rain makes the local tracks unrideable.

That experience has come in useful over the past couple of weeks as the weather has conspired to derail the New Zealand team's preparation for next weekend's UCI World Championships.

The elite BMX team took part in a four-day training camp in Auckland before departing for Australia to continue their buildup for the event.

The inclement weather in Auckland caused a number of disruptions to their training schedule last week, forcing Cools to think outside the box to come up with a work-around.

With the Albany track not holding up too well in the rain, Cools sent his riders to the local shopping mall to do sprints in the underground carpark. The group were soon kicked out, but undeterred they moved on to The Warehouse carpark.

It was mostly out of necessity, but you get the feeling there was a tiny part of rebellion that led the tattooed Canadian to try the patience of the retail giant's security team.

Typically the New Zealand coach, who has been involved with BMX since the age of 5, shrugs off the novel training location.

"You just gotta do what you gotta do," said Cools.

In Adelaide the weather has once again disrupted Cools' plans, with rain off and on the entire week limiting the team's track sessions.

However Cools said the Adelaide track had held up better in the rain than they expected and the team had been able to get in a few good training runs.

"The weather really hasn't been that good to us. Especially being on a BMX track and being outdoors and all the mud. But we're making do, we're doing the best with what you've got," he said.

Despite the weather-affected buildup, Cools is very happy with the form of his riders a week out from the start of the event.

He said the team's training had been managed well to ensure they had all peaked for the event.

"Everybody looks like they're peaking right now.

"They're a little tired but we still have about a week and a half to recover from the amount of training that we've been doing, so every day these guys are getting faster and faster for the next 10 days."

Olympians Sarah Walker and Marc Willers are the two big Kiwi hopes for the event, but Cools said there were a couple of others in both the elite and junior ranks capable of bringing home medals.

However, the unpredictable nature of BMX racing means nothing is assured.

"A few of them are fast enough to bring home a couple of world titles, but at the end of the day it is a race.

"It's not like it's time trials and the fastest time wins, there's seven other people on the track and anything can happen on the day of the race."

Cools, who has been in charge of the New Zealand BMX team for about 18 months, said he was hoping to see his new programme produce strong results.

The national coach has worked hard at increasing the power and speed of his riders to complement their natural ability.

"The first six months leading up to the Olympics I didn't really want to come in and change too many things with the riders, I just wanted them to keep going with what they were doing," said Cools.

"But since the Olympics I've kind of changed the programme around a little bit, so now it's more my programme and the riders seem to be adjusting to it well and enjoying what we're doing."

The UCI World Championships begin in Adelaide on July 24.

UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

New Zealand's top BMX hopes:

Sarah Walker, elite women
The most well-known of all the Kiwi riders, Walker goes into the championships ranked number one in the world. The 21-year-old has picked up four world championship medals in open elite competition, finishing with a silver medal in Canada in 2007 and bronze last year in China. She also won the cruiser class world title in Canada and was third last year.

Marc Willers - elite men
New Zealand's top male rider, Willers has been riding since he was 4. After leaving school at 16 "because it was gay", Willers became a qualified car painter, which he did for three years before switching to BMX fulltime. Now based in California, he linked up with the New Zealand team in Adelaide this week. The Beijing Olympian has been struggling with a shoulder injury after tearing his labrum this year, but he is hoping he will be able to hold off having surgery until the end of the year.

Trent Woodcock - junior men
Trent Woodcock, 16, is one of New Zealand's top hopes in the age group classes. A 13-time national champion, he won a world title in France in 2005 - one of three podium finishes at a World Championships. Coach Ken Cools said the youngster has looked impressive in the build-up to the Adelaide event. "He is riding phenomenal right now."