By Dave Gooselink
Invercargill's velodrome is a second home for national cycling coach Tim Carswell.
He's led Bike NZ's track programme for the last five years, building it from a small part-time setup, to a major programme boasting more than 30 cyclists, and covering every discipline.
“I wanted to make sure that we could really build the New Zealand team up to what I knew it could be, which is one of the best programmes in the world, and I think we're there now,” he says.
Carswell was himself a double Commonwealth medallist at the 1998 games in Kuala Lumpur.
As coach, he's guided New Zealand to Olympic pursuit medals at Beijing, along with top results at World Champs.
Now he's been snapped up by cycling's world body.
Carswell will move to Switzerland after the London Olympics, working as a coach at the UCI's World Cycling Centre.
“It brings in riders from all over the world, probably mostly from nations which haven't got the programmes to actually develop talented riders to their full potential,” he says.
Westley Gough's just one of the Kiwi cyclists who has used the facility.
He says Carswell will be a huge loss for New Zealand, but a big gain for the centre.
“Obviously a great setup there in Switzerland, and it's renowned for having good coaches and for being a great place to train and develop as a younger rider,” Gough says.
But Carswell still has a good six months work ahead before he quits New Zealand, as he prepares the cyclists for what could be their biggest ever Olympic medal haul.
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