KEY POINTS:
It's been a bumpy season for Kawerau BMX rider Sarah Walker as she closes in on a spot at the Beijing Olympics. But then bumps are what BMX riders enjoy best.
The 19-year-old returns home this weekend to prepare for rounds seven and eight of the UCI Oceania Ranking series in Albany on February 16-17. Having dominated the series so far with five wins from six rounds, another top performance in the Auckland rounds will virtually assure Walker an Olympic berth, though that won't be confirmed until after the World Championships in China in late May.
Her only blip this season was a runner-up finish in round five on the Gold Coast, where she struggled in the muddy conditions on the rain-affected track.
But with riders able to drop their three worst performances in the UCI series, Walker is hoping to win the two rounds in Albany next weekend. This ensures she finishes the series with maximum points regardless of the final two rounds in Canberra and Sydney early next month.
Based for most of the year in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Walker remained in Melbourne after the last round to compete in a series of meets as preparation for the all-important Auckland rounds.
"I'm really looking forward to racing at home again and hopefully I can win both rounds so I can drop that second placing," Walker said.
But while everything seems to have been smooth sailing on the track, Walker has had to deal with a few disruptions off it.
Her Olympic preparations were thrown into chaos last December after her coach, Australian Grant White, quit the New Zealand BMX team eight months away from the biggest race of Walker's career.
White, who had coached the New Zealand BMX cycling team for three years, quit abruptly after a rumoured falling out with leading male rider Marc Willers. White is now coaching the Great Britain team that includes Walker's main rival for Olympic gold, Shanaze Reade.
The Bay of Plenty teenager remains without a coach and she admitted it has been difficult to adjust. "It was really hard when I first found out that our coach was leaving and going overseas," Walker said from her Melbourne base. "It was a huge shock to me, I didn't see it coming at all."
In the meantime as BikeNZ search for a replacement for White, Walker's boyfriend, Australian Dane Booker, has been helping her prepare for competition. BikeNZ have set Walker up with a strength and conditioning coach from the Millennium Institute.
It's a journey into the unknown for Walker but she remains optimistic the coaching hiccup won't derail her Olympic campaign.
"I've been doing the same programme with my old coach since I started out as a professional so it's going to be different to what I've been doing since that started. I really hope it does work out, I'm going to give it my best shot and see how it goes."
Walker is considered one of New Zealand's leading medal hopes when BMX makes its first appearance on the Games programme in August.
The youngster said she is desperate to get a medal in Beijing, though she admits when she first started out in the sport she never imagined it would take her this far. Walker took up the sport as a 10-year-old after her younger brother was given a BMX bike for Christmas. After a couple of months Walker said she grew bored watching her brother riding about having all the fun and decided she wanted a piece of the action too.
"I raced my first nationals after only a couple of months riding and I won that so I've kind of been into it since I started basically," she said. "When you first start something it's justbecause it's something you want to do as a hobby and it's turned out to be so much more than that. I couldn't have dreamed it better."
