WBHS Cycling

TTT racing begins (Senior A 3rd & Junior A 1st)

We had a fantastic start to our 2026 season last weekend at Pukekohe. Despite fielding a team of Y11 & 12 riders, our Senior A boys claimed 3rd spot (Ashton Sinclair, Blake Jeffery, Joshua Blayney, Ethan Bowen & Cam Gordon). Well done to Cam as he joins an exclusive group of boys who have raced Senior A as a Y 11 student.

Many of those Senior A boys raced in the formidable Junior A squad last year. Only Ethan Rawson remained as a Junior from last year’s squad. We were delighted with Junior A’s performance in TTT1 claiming 1st place. Ethan was joined by Seth Bird, Theo Lloyd and Daniel Dickson.

Some other great results were recorded across the club with our B teams looking very competitive. Well done in particular to all the new riders for racing their first TTT for Westlake. It is very promising and gives us a lot of confidence for the 2026 season.

Many thanks to all the parents for their ongoing support. We have parents assisting with marshalling, towing trailers, putting up marquees, running bbqs, providing food, taking photos, managing teams, driving follow cars, riding … the list is endless and we are very grateful.

Finally, we wish Harry Shannon and Marcus Hilder the very best with their exciting European campaigns. While Harry has only been in Europe for a week he has already had a sensational result racing in the Czech Republic.

It’s been some time since our last Facebook post. While we’ve had a break here it’s clear that the boys have been busy over the summer with some impressive form being shown at training camp last weekend.

Always a highlight, Cambridge turned on the weather to allow us to enjoy 3 solid days of riding. Back by popular demand, the ITT gave us some excellent data. Many of the boys delighted in the huge gains they have made when comparing to their ITTs from previous years.

Camp is a fantastic opportunity for us to welcome the new boys. Great to see the fleet of Meridas out and clocking up the kms. For the vast majority of the new boys this was all very new with many not having ridden any significant distance. Not only did they master important skills, have a go on the velodrome but they all conquered the gruelling Maungakawa climb. We are enormously grateful to EC Cycles in Northcote for their ongoing support of our programme. They were under some pressure to service, allocate and fit the school bikes.

Similarly, we are grateful to the many old boys that so generously assist at camp. This talented bunch of guys includes a number of NZ title holders. At the velodrome we were fortunate to have a visit from old boy Luke Blackwood. While through the camp, Andrew, Liam, Matthew, Matt & Arthur all willingly sacrificed time to help the 2026 squad and ensure a successful camp.

Traditionally we announce our captain at camp. We did so again but this time on the summit of Maungakawa. Congratulations Borynt Em Ream on your appointment as captain for 2026. We know you will do a fantastic job and will be well supported by the other boys in this role.

We do encourage full attendance at camp as we realise it’s significance to our programme. A couple of boys had very legitimate excuses as they were away racing. Ethan Rawson (WBHS Junior Sportsman of 2025) claimed 2nd at the National MTB cross country championships in Rotorua. Racing as one of the younger riders in his age group, this is yet another formidable achievement.

Formidable too was Harry Shannon’s achievement in Australia. Harry claimed 1st place in the General Classification of the Q Tour (Tour of Queensland) for U19 riders. This race involves 3 stages and attracts the best riders from Australia. Congratulations Harry, yet another stunning achievement.

Lastly, do follow us on Instagram, we’ve recently launched a club page wbhs_cycling_club

Thanks everybody for all the support this year. Here's the Cycling report for the 2025 Yearbook:

The 2025 season was always going to be an atypical year with 3 of our most talented riders spending a number of months based in Europe racing for various teams. Back home, the absence of these riders created opportunities for other boys. Competing in the College Sport Team Time Trial series, our Senior A squad still managed to claim a podium spot ( 3rd in the series). The return of Liam Lloyd and Arthur Bird towards the end of the season enabled the boys to claim 2nd on finals day.

In the same series, our Junior A boys were undefeated, a remarkable achievement, including course records being set by our boys. To provide some context, on finals day, the Junior A TTT averaged 44km/hr over their 16km event. College Sport also host a Points Race at Pukekohe, allowing boys to race as individuals in age specific age groups. We were thrilled to see podiums for James Wilson, Ethan Rawson, Ashton Sinclair, Andrew Jensen and Arthur Bird.

The Junior A riders were able to carry their good form to the North Islands. Once again, they claimed 1st. In the individual events, we celebrated Ashton Sinclair claiming 1st in the U16 Road Race & U16 Criterium. Ethan Rawson matched his 1st in the TTT with another 1st in the U15 Criterium.

Yet another individual event is offered by the Northern Tour where our cyclists race an Individual Time Trial, Hill Climb and Criterium. Unfortunately, the weather that weekend was atrocious and eventually led to the Sunday racing being cancelled. Before that, however, WBHS riders had claimed 6 podiums including 4 firsts. Liam placed 2nd in the U20 ITT while Ashton and Ethan won their respective age groups both in the ITT and Hill Climb. James Wilson placed 2nd in the U14 Criterium. Cycling NZ awarded national titles to Ashton and Ethan for HC results. Further national titles were on offer at the end of the season in Palmerston North.

Our performance at the Nationals was extraordinary. Some historic achievements including winning both the NZ titles for the Junior TTT (Ashton Sinclair, Joshua Blayney, Ethan Bowen & Ethan Rawson) & the Senior TTT (Andrew Jensen, Liam Lloyd, Arthur Bird, Marcus Hilder & Harry Shannon). The following day NZ Road Race titles were also claimed in the U16 category (Ashton) while Ethan Rawson (U15) & Joshua Blayney (U16) both claimed 3rd. The most remarkable result was in the final race were our senior riders claimed 1st, 2nd & 3rd (Arthur Bird, Andrew Jensen & Marcus Hilder). Further podiums on the final day for the Points Race (Ethan Rawson, Ashton Sinclair & Liam Lloyd) meant we established a convincing tally to guarantee being the Top Boys School in NZ for the 3rd consecutive year.

Sincere thanks to our coaches, Mr. Clarke, Sam Gardner, Miss Gardiner and old boys Aidan Alexander & Shaun Woods. We also benefited from the coaching expertise of Matt McClune in the first half of the season. We are always grateful for the tremendous support from our parents throughout the season. EC Cycles in Northcote also deserve special mention for their ongoing support of our programme.

For those interested in cycling for WBHS, contact Mr. Clarke ([email protected]). Scholarship bikes are available for those who need them.

Threepeat!!! We wrapped up the 2025 Nationals today with more podiums. Congratulations Ethan Rawson, Ashton Sinclair & Liam Lloyd for podiums in the Points Race. Our results over the last 3 days secured the NZ Top Boys School for the 3rd year in a row. A result we can all be proud of. Thanks to the huge number of people who have made this happen over many years. We are enormously grateful.

Another extraordinary day for the Road Race at Cycling Nationals. Westlake took 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the U20 event! Further podiums in U16 with 3rd to Joshua Blayney & 1st to Ashton Sinclair while Ethan Rawson also claimed 3rd in U15. Well done everybody.

In a rare double - WBHS took both NZ titles yesterday for TTT in Palmerston North. Huge congratulations Senior A & Junior A. We are enormously proud.

NZ titles for Hill Climb at Cycling’s Northern Tour

The weather made it yet another tough couple of days of racing for us last weekend. Cycling NZ hold a 3 stage event as part of the Northern Tour. It allows our cyclists to compete as an individual in an Individual Time Trial, Hill Climb and Criterium.

Three outstanding results in the ITT set a great platform for the squad. Unlucky to miss out on 1st place, Liam Lloyd was awarded 2nd in the U20 race. Podiums too for Ashton Sinclair (U16) and Ethan Rawson (U15) as they both placed 1st while we had a number of other riders securing top 10 results.

Mt Wellington hosts the Hill Climb. It’s a crowd favourite as the climb is lined by supporters from various schools. The Hill Climb results were awarded National title status. We were delighted to see NZ titles being awarded to Ashton Sinclair and Ethan Rawson.

Sunday racing began with the younger age groups on a rectangular criterium course. Congratulations to James Wilson for claiming 2nd in the U14 category. Just as our U15 boys were about to start racing the strong winds and rain forced organisers to abandon the rest of the day.

We look forward to the Nationals at the start of the holidays. Our cyclists will return to competing in the Team Time Trial, Road Race and Criterium over 3 days. The tough racing conditions we have endured this season may well prove valuable when we compete in Palmerston North.

Everest 2025! Nice work last Friday. WBHS & TGS combined forces to Everest - 8,849m of climbing meant over 200 ascents of North Head. We had a perfect morning for it.

Junior A set a new course record for Pukekohe.

Congratulations Junior A! These boys set a new course record last Sunday. Despite the cold and windy conditions, Ashton Sinclair, Joshua Blayney, Ethan Bowen & Ethan Rawson became the 1st Junior team to post a sub-22 minute race time. That beat the previous record (which has stood since 2018) by over 20 seconds. In 2024 the WBHS Senior A team also set a new record for Pukekohe.

The College Sport prizegiving also celebrated the series win by WBHS Junior A (that team included Brono Wunsche dos Santos). We have won that title 3 times in the last 4 years. Prior to 2022, WBHS had never won the Junior Boys TTT series.

Our Senior A team also performed admirably. Despite losing a rider through illness relatively early in the TTT, our boys were only 6 seconds off 1st place. Well done to Liam Lloyd, Arthur Bird, Andrew Jensen, Marcus Hilder & Blake Jeffery. In the TTT series WBHS Senior A claimed 3rd overall. Having 3 of our riders racing in Europe during our season, we have drawn on a number of riders to race in Senior A. Well done to the 5 already mentioned but also to Angus Sims, Borynt Em Ream, Paddy Jameson & Harrison Xiao for the role they have played.

Finally, many thanks to the boys who have now finished their school racing careers at Pukekohe. Paddy, Liam, Arthur and Andrew have a lot to be proud about! So too do their extremely supportive families, as all of them have been heavily involved in WBHS cycling. We are enormously grateful for that.

Junior Tour of Manawatu U19 title to Liam Lloyd!

The Junior Tour of Manawatu is a prestigious event. In recent years, Westlake cyclists have claimed some great results in this multi-stage race. Six boys raced across 3 age groups in 2025. The table below lists some of the key results:

Liam Lloyd 1st U19 GC, 1st or 2nd in all 4 stages
Marcus Hilder 3rd U19 GC, podium result in all 4 stages
Arthur Bird 1st stage 1 U19
Blake Jeffery KOM podium U17
Theo LLoyd Top 10 U 15 GC
Seth Bird 10 U 15 GC including 5th in stage 2

Congratulations to all the riders, in particular to the outstanding result from Liam Lloyd.

TTT5 report, thanks to Joshua Blayney

With our time trial season nearing its end with our 5th TTT last Sunday, it’s great to see how much effort the boys are still putting into their training and getting some brilliant results out of it.

Senior A (Arthur Bird, Liam Lloyd, Blake Jeffery, Angus Sims and Marcus Hilder) came away with a great 2nd place, showing the improvement of the team throughout the season. Senior B (Harrison Xiao, Andrew Jensen, Haoran Wang, Jake Wright, Borynt Em Ream) picked up 5th place, again showing a significant increase of placings.

Our Junior A Team (Ashton Sinclair, Ethan Bowen, Bruno Santos, Joshua Blayney) kept their significant lead from across the season, securing the Junior series. Junior B (Cam Gordon, Joash Murray, Seth Bird) got a strong 5th place, keeping their consistently good results

These results reflect the great training our head coach Sam Gardner provides, and with Nationals on the horizon, the boys are sure to be pushing even harder to reach peak form, and getting us some more superb results!