XBR Australian Team XBR Australian Team in New Zealand
Friday, 04 September 2009 15:24 Section: XBR Australian Team - 2009
2008 Australian Team Reports - North Island Championship, Gisborne, New Zealand
I had one of the best times of my life from the borin’ 8 hour drive to the exciting racing. We all met in NZ and got all our suits and jerseys. We all looked like a real team.
We had an 8 hour drive ahead of us to get to Gisborne. Wasnt real exciting but got to see some great views goin’ through the mountains. Got to hear all the goss about racing because I was with Gavin D in the car while the rest of the team was in the van. We got to Gisborne late at night and had practice the next day.
At practise it was quite fun working with the guys to figure out how we were goin to flog the kiwis. then the time came. Saturday mornin’ of racing and we were all pumped. First race we all went as hard as we could; of course I had a great crash and made every thing alot harder for the team to win.
It was a great weekend racing and every one raced so, so well. Came to sunday and we were leading by a mile and only had two races left - but there was one problem; I couldnt walk properly because of the crash the day before... but of course Gavin had his contacts and got me Sarah Walker’s dad and he strapped my ankle with some “magic tape” as they call it. Half an hour later I was running around!
So came to the last two races and Darryn Goodwin pulled through 2 wins - not suprisingly becuase he had won all the other races. Maddy, Bodi and I raced through the pack all weekend doin the hard bit of racing; blocking for Darryn.
It came to the last race and there was no way we could lose. yess!!!. So then presentation came and finished and we all got back to our motel. Time to party!!!!!!!!. Stayed up pretty late - was verry fun. Come to the mornin’ and I got to sleep in because I was staying in Kiwi land for another week haha... but yeah the racing was great and I think it would be safe to say that we all had a very great time!!! It was good to see slim Karen and kids my billets from when I was captian of the mighty elevens. None of this could of happened if it wasnt for the team sponsors.
So a huge thanks to HRVFitness, Altegra Tents, BMX MAD and THE for the number plates. A very special thanks to especially Gavin D just for caring about & promoting BMX in Australia & making this all happen & organising everything. No one else does it like Gavin. Also XBR for the cool outfits.
Thanks heaps
Adam Shields
Heyy its the BODSTA #47 from BIG vic.
I started by waking up at 4:30 and grabbing my stuff for the drive to Maddie Denholm’s house because we were leaving with them to go to the airport. When we got to Maddie’s house they were just waking up but we got inside, dad had a coffee and then we left!!!
When we got to the airport we met up with Darryn Goodwin and Talia Smith. Oh, and I cant forget Gav.D!!! We had a while so we all crashed in Hungry Jacks!!!
The plane trip was normal nothing exciting apart from my T.V not working, so we found another 4 seater so we could all sit together. NZ airport wasn’t huge but it was “rather” (haha) big and we jumped straight on getting our bikes so they weren’t lost!!!
We all grouped up including Adam Shields #77 and Chealsea King, Maddie Jansen, Lacey Oliver, and Melinda Mcleod. We again got Maccas and some of the dads left to get the van, meanwhile me and Darryn were playin’ some gun game that we weren’t very good at!! The trip to Gisborne was long but we made it enjoyable.
We got to Gissy at about 12:30am and we were handed to our billets. I was with Trent Jones and the family. They were staying in some apartment that was right on the bay so we got to see the ocean!!! The track turned out great thanks to the Fox’s and others who helped. The tracks are made from lime that is in concrete so they held pretty well in the rain. We had a training session on the day before racing and then that night we headed to the local rsl/rsa or whatever they called it and the service was great. We were presented with our jersey’s, plates and gifts from the kiwi’s.
Racing day was great weather wise. Every now and then there was a drizzle but it helped with dust i guess. Our team race was up first and the girls did well, so did the elevens. But first race you cant expect too much!!! After three races we all were doing well and the senior boys’ were winning and I think the girls were too. The mighty’s were close the whole way.
The next day racing had to start early! we only had 2 team races today but about 3 or 4 individual 14 boys races. Our teams’ were again up first. We were doing well and about 27 points in front. I’m not too sure about the others. By the finals in age I wasn’t doing too bad on points because I was saving myself through the moto’s so I could focus on the team event. We had 24 riders but they didn’t run semis.
The team races were first and we were pumped and I’ll let you know now, but we had already won it by the final!!! we were 32 points in front and the most they could get was 30!!! So we didnt try to full of our abilities in the last race. Age was tuff but it was me Maddie and Trent Jones who could win!! I had the inside pick which was good. I got an awesome start and was leading into the first corner. On the video it looked like I was beginnig to take off on the back straight but by the time I got around the two ninety’s and down the last straight Maddie came under me and we dragged to the line but Maddie just pipped me.The mighty elevens were s0o0o0o0o0o close the whole way and at presentation we found out they had won by a point 97 - 98!!! They did so well!
We then went to presentation and the captains (Adam for the Aussies and Nick Fox for the Kiwi’s) had to make a speech. It was all jokes and it was raining. We left and that night we went to Richard Fox’s 18th party it was awesome and we got to go in the spa!!!
Richard had fun for sure!!! after 18 shots of johnnie walker black label??? It was great and eventually we had to go.
The next day we had to leave early again. Our plane was leaving that night!? So we left early to go for the big drive, we were in the bus. Adam Shields stayed to go fishing (of course)!!! At the airport we had to wait for our plane coz we were ahead of time so of course the dads had to have a beer!!! But me, Maddie and Darryn found massage chairs!!! It was mean bro!
We were in the furthest gate in the airport and knowing us we were running behind time. We were among the 16 late people that were called over the p.a system!! haha
The flight again wasn’t very exciting. We just watched movies again, and listened to abba songs!!! haha (darryn) We got back late and dad was telling the best jokes ever!! uhr (beep)! haha We got macas on the way home. Oh I forgot my dad and Maddies dad had bought hard drive video cameras for cheap as!!! So on the way back all they did was try and work out how to use the dam thing!!!
I touched down at our front door around 12:30/1:00 and I thought how much fun I had on the great XBR trip to New Zealand!!
Thank you for reading my little story and I might see ya round the track someday heyy!
The BODSTA - #47
I’d like to thank,
BMXMAD - Intense Australia, THE, Grant and the guys from ECI - Altegra - XBR Magazine - Gav.D and The Jones family for looking after me
An 8.30am Emirates flight bound for Auckland, New Zealand was the start of my trip to the 2008 North Island Titles, in Gisborne, as a part of the XBR Invitational senior test team. I met up with Lacey Oliver, Maddison Janssen and Chelsea King at the Brisbane airport for our trip across the Tasman to hopefully bring home the trophy.
When we arrived in Auckland we met up with the senior boys, the dads who were travelling with us; Matt Dickinson, Rod Turner, Darryl Goodwin and also Gavin D. We then loaded up the trailer and bus and followed Phil Anderson in his purple people eater all the way to Gisborne. Once we finally arrived in Gisborne we met up with our billets for some much needed sleep before the big weekend ahead.
The next morning we had a team practise. We worked out some strategies we could use over the weekend while posing for some photos throughout the session. That night we had the Test Teams’ presentation dinner, where every test team member is introduced and awarded their jerseys. The captains also have to make a speech and let me tell you it is not as easy as it looks. I have sat up on the gate for 5 world title finals and I was probably more nervous about doing this speech. However all my oral presentations in front of my sometimes critical year 10 English class prepared me pretty well. ( I really enjoy that part of the test team because it is not something you do everyday and it is something to look back on in a few years).
An early start the next morning ensured we were all there with plenty of time for practise and warm up. Then it was time for the anthems and introductions. To stand up on the Gisborne start hill as the captain while the Australian anthem was playing was a pretty good feeling and one that I will never forget. With all the national pride stuff done it was time to get down to business and put the 1 point loss from Hamilton in 2007 out of our minds.
Our racing went well apart from Lacey, Maddison and Chelsea deciding to run into each other in one race leaving Lacey and Chelsea with injuries. But they soldiered on and we finished the day with a good lead over the kiwis. The next day we arrived at the track to the news that Lacey would be unable to race the remainder of the races due to her injured knee. This left us in a difficult position as it was now 4 vs. 3. But with a mini team meeting reassuring the girls that we still had a good chance I had no doubt that we would be able to hold our lead. The next races we just tried to hold out the kiwi girls to gain as many points as we could. We even managed to get a Australia 1, 2 in one race. The last race rolled around and I told the girls to just have fun as all we needed was one girl in the top three. I was lucky enough to get second and the trophy was ours.
It was certainly fun after the race with everyone catching up and getting myspace/bebo photos (depending on which side if the ditch you’re from). The trusty NZ heavens decided to open up at the presentation but what would the North Islands be without rain?? Even though there was no trophy at the presentation (the kiwis don’t want to give it to us) and I had to make another speech with Hayley, the NZ captain, trying to put me off by laughing it was a very successful day.
The Aussie senior boys won in a landslide and the Aus mighty elevens won by 1 point, which was a great effort The only thing New Zealand could win that day was the netball. But don’t worry the Diamonds got the Silver Ferns back in the very next game. From then it was just packing up and hitting the road for the 8 hour journey back to Auckland to catch our flights bound for the country we are all so proud to represent.
Overall I had a very, very enjoyable trip as always when I go to New Zealand but this could not be possible without some people. Firstly Gavin D and XBR for organising it. I really hope this trip continues as you get to race a great race meet and meet lots of new friends. Also our sponsors Altegra, BMX MAD, HRV Fitness and T.H.E thank you so much. BMX NZ and the New Zealand public who are very welcoming and make you feel like you are at home. The Gisborne BMX club who put on one of the best (and driest) North Islands I have been to, the track was great and I really liked it. The billet families, who by the end of the weekend had us talking like kiwis, this would not be possible without you guys, thanks for your hospitality. A special thanks to my billet family, the Imbers, who looked after me as if I was part of the family and took me on a mini tour around Gisborne, which really just consisted of the beach and the chocolate isle of The Warehouse. Thank you so much, it was really enjoyable. Our families, the working mums and dads that are funding us, thank you for giving us the opportunity to do this (I will repay you someday I promise). The senior NZ girls team, thanks for the competition. And finally my teammates Lacey, Maddison and Chelsea. Thank you for making my last senior test team trip a successful and enjoyable one. Good luck next year.
Melinda McLeod.
On the 23rd of October, 2008 a group of us flew from Australia to New Zealand to compete in the XBR Senior Trans Tasman Test Team, against the New Zealand Senior Team.
us girls; Melinda, Lacey, Maddie, I and also Adam flew out from Brisbane, to arrive in New Zealand, were we then meet up with the others. We had to travel seven hours in a small bus to get to Gisborne. The trip was very boring and slow, but it was kind of good for me as I slept most of the way. We got to Gisborne at like 10pm and everyone went with there billets. I was staying with Gavin and talia at the motel, with some New Zealanders bmxers.
The next day at the track we were putting our bikes together, but I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I got someone else to help put it together for me. At the track we had to take some team photos and with the kiwi’s (there were so many kiwi’s and not many of us). Getting back to the motel, going through my stuff, I realised that I had left my race pants at home, so I had to wear my skinny jeans. It was so funny!
It was Saturday and racing was on between the kiwi’s and aussie’s. Melinda, Lacey, Maddie and I had taken the first race, in our favor. But in the second race Lacey and I crashed in the third straight. Lacey hurt her knee and hip badly and was not able to race anymore. On Sunday Lacey not racing, just rolling out of the gate to get 8th place. Maddie winning a race and Melinda too, the XBR Senior Girls Aussie Test Team, still won it overall. The aussie guys also won and so did the mighty 11’s only by one point.
It was Sunday night, Talia and I were hanging out at the motel, with some New Zealanders just talking. Talia, Darryn and I ended up doing an all nighter, doing nothing really, but talking.
The next day I felt so bad, tired and tried to sleep on the way back to Auckland. But having a V drink, I couldn’t really sleep that much. On the plane, Lacey ended up falling asleep and Maddie couldn’t wait until she could get back and go on her hiptop, lol.
Overall the trip was really fun and I enjoyed it. I would like to thank XBR Australia, Altegra, BMX Mad, HRV Fitness, THE, the four dads that went and a big thanks to Gavin D for organising it all, supporting us throughout the trip and getting us some awesome race jersey’s and tracksuit gear, thanks again.
From Chelsea
This is our story for xbr =)
It's a little long but you can take what you like from it...
Dear XBR Readers,
So here we are sitting in Maddie Janssen’s kitchen writing our first blog for our New Zealand trip. We have decided to write our first blog early so we had something to do because we are so excited and needed something to do to past the time.
So here we sit, Lacey and Maddie watching Maddie’s Mum having a psycho fit at the nom forms for Nerang because people don’t write their ages on the forms and also watching Stevie Janssen “trying” to be cool (cough cough). Tomorrow morning we have to get up at 4:00am to make our international flight from Brisbane to Auckland to meet the rest of the team and to start our long bus trip to Gisborne. When we get there we plan to head right to the shops to get some Pinky Bars our favourites.
Hi XBR Readers this is now Lacey Oliver writing. Maddie has gone to finish packing for our big trip of five days! Just to let you know that we have been so excited that we have been counting down days for over a month now. OH MY GOSH! Maddie just put 8 spoons of Milo for energy into her drink. I know that you’re thinking she must be pretty damn tanked, just to let you know that you are right. I have to tell all you readers that Madison Janssen aged 13 still can’t put her bike together after racing for many years, so when we get there I will have to help her put it together. Well we’re off to spend as much time on our Hip Top phones as we can because we can’t take them with us.
cya xx Lacey and Madison.
Okay so it’s Thursday morning, the morning where it all begins. It is Maddie here on Day 1 of our trip. I am chilling at the airport having a healthy Subway for breakfast at 6.30am. We have checked in all our luggage aka - bikes. Lacey had to text Adam Shields to wake him up but he hasn’t replied. We are very excited to be going to New Zealand. Oh and Lacey , had a dream last night that she was a murder investigator, oh no here comes Lacey I had better go.
This is Lacey writing now I have just finished my breakfast sub which I must say was pretty good. As Maddie said earlier we got up at 4:00am to be here on time and luckily we left early because Maddie wasn’t reading the signs on where to park the car, so we went around the Airport doing a hole laps to get back to the car park. We just met up with Dr Tom at the Airport as he is off to Japan, we said hello and now he’s talking to us. Oh we just went past a policeman who was checking out Jo Janssen (Maddie’s mum). Maddie also doesn’t follow the rules and took all her makeup on the plane and the custom guys made her take it all out so they could scan it again (Maddie was very embarrassed). As we are waiting to board the plane we met up with Chelsea King and Melinda McLeod with Adam Shields still nowhere to be seen, surprise surprise!
We have to catch the plane so cya xx
Hey its Thursday still and we are chilling in our cribs aka -plane seat. You should know us by now, yeah its Maddie, we just got our plane food and it didn’t look very enticing and Lacey was nearly sick when she opened hers (oh yes we got a photo).
Lacey is writing now, we are about 3/4 of the way and its gone so fast even though we were sitting on the strip at the airport for about 40mins but we were entertained by the movies on this plane as there are about 10 pages of different titles to choose from. The food we got was pretty gross but we had some really nice moose that kept us going. Currently Maddie is listening to her IPod, God knows what she is listening to but I’m guessing its Barbie Girl from her singing out loud on the plane. Oh by the way Melinda just dropped by our crib to say hello. I believe we have the best seats on the plane as we have all the seats between 32F and 32G. Adam is about six rows in front of us to the left and Melinda and Chelsea are about 11 rows behind us in the same seats positions. Nothing too much is happening on this flight so it’s pretty boring. Maddie’s now getting excited by watching Two and a Half Men on the TV. Might I say Maddie gets entertained pretty easy by playing with the spinning drink holder on the back of the seat in front of her, but what do they say, small things entertain small minds. Well I’m off to watch the rest of my movie before we land so I’ll pass you onto Maddie.
I can’t believe Lacey just told you guys that ha! ha!, I’m now watching TV like Lacey said earlier, so funny but Lacey thinks I’m a weirdo cause I’m laughing so hard. We are now descending into Auckland Airport yahoo! Talk to you soon Lacey and Madison.
Morning Readers it is currently day 2 of our trip.
We are about to head off to the Gisborne BMX Track. We came in around midnight last night so we didn’t get to see what the track was like and then our billets picked us up. They are a very nice family called the Alisons. We have to go now to the track but we are stopping at the Fox’s house on the way, which will be great to catch up.
Alright, so we just finished our first training day and might I say it is so hot here which we totally didn’t think was going to happen. The track went alright apart from the six pack but the track is too long for us Aussie’s. Tonight we have the Awards Night where we will be getting our race shirts and number plates for the big weekend ahead of us. We were ‘mocking’ everyone because of their lingo like when Maddie asked me to pass her thongs to her we got a few weird looks, so we kept it up over the weekend.
Saturday morning has arrived and we are pumped to kick some Kiwi butt with our spinning hats on that everyone is jealous of. We now get our own Australian warm up so we can get the track down pat.
So the first and second test team races have come and gone and both teams are leading on points. Everyone is still alive but we have a few sore team members with a huge pile up in the second senior girls test team race, Melinda took out first place, Hayley second and the rest was a mess. With Nicole Wright crashing by herself on the second straight, Maddie and I bumped bars causing me to go down and Chelsea piling on top of me giving us a sleep on the track. Chelsea held up alright but I had a really sore knee so I just rolled out of the gate on my next age race to see if it held up alright, but of course that didn’t go to plan. I missed the next test team race and age race because I was chilling in the first aid tent. The days racing finished and we got home pretty early so we went to visit the boys test team captain Nick Fox at his house. We stayed there for a bit and we got to check our emails and our myspace. We also moved into a house down the road that had 2 pigs that we thought looked very funny. That day went pretty fast and now we only have 2 days left.
It is Sunday now and we got to the track early to find out if Lacey could ride or not. The team decided it would a good idea to let her roll out of the gate and cross the track to the finish line to get the 1 point for the team. We had two races left of the test team before we found out who would take the trophy home! The team came up with a sweet plan to put off the Kiwi girls test team, by using Lacey as an advantage by calling out things while on the gate to put the Kiwi’s off and this worked very well “watch out there’s a sheep on the track!”. We finished our last test team race and the boys knew they had won by quite a lot of points. We were just hanging out for the girls results. On the finish line everyone was adding up who had won! The girl’s team then found out that they had won and we also found out that the Mighty 11 boys had won by 1 point! sucks to be a kiwi, so all up we took the clean sweep. Melinda and Lacey were over the moon that they had won the trophy back from last year’s photo finish of a 3 point loss. This summed up the weekend of racing.
Here comes Richard Fox’s (sexy time) big 18th party. Where do we start to tell you about this? It was one good night that’s for sure. We were one of the first to arrive and we started to question if all of Richard’s friends were 5 year olds. Lacey wasn’t feeling too well after her crash and went to sleep. I (Maddie) chilled on Nick’s computer while more people arrived. While Lacey was sleeping her body was having these weirdo spasms that were freaking me out, I thought she was like having a fit or something because that’s what it looked like. We left early around 10:30pm as we had to get up at 5:30am to leave for our 8 hour bus trip to Auckland.
We would now like to thanks the team sponsors which are BMX Mad, HRV Fitness, XBR Racing, Altegra, and Speed Fx for making our shirts. Marc Willers for beening a great coach to the losing side. Most of all we would like to thank Gavin D and Phil Anderson for making the trip happen and taking on us teenagers and also the dads Matt, Darryl and Rod. One other thank you is needed and that is for the billets of the Alison family that took Maddie and I on and also the families who looked after everyone else. The people we met there have become lifelong friends such as the one and only Hayley Gedye, Nick Fox, Richard Fox, Andrew McKenzie, Emily Alison, Ricardo Pereira, Michelle Montague, Cara Leyten, Connor Rowe, Nicole Wright, Geoff Beaumont, Campbell Alison, Kane Barry, Chris Fox, Todd Barry, Trent Jones, Brad Gates and all the mighty 11’s and parents, sorry if we left anyone out.
This was the time of our life and we hope to see everyone again sometime in the future.
Thankyou
Madison Janssen and Lacey Oliver, Australia
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