It was a chance meeting while racing out at Lancefield in early
2009 that kicked things off. The bunch was being ravaged by a few teams,
so I had a chat the rider next to me and we formed an immediate
alliance. That rider happened to be Kos Samaras. With a little bit of
team work, I ended up winning that race and Kos was on the phone to me
the next day with a few ideas about setting up Team Kosdown. This soon
developed into Kosdown Performance Cycling - A small privately backed
team that offers a development/support pathway to young up and comers in
the sport, as well as supporting a number of Elite/Masters riders.
I've clocked up over 150 race wins while representing Kosdown over the last six years. Time trials, road races, criteriums, prologues, track events, from club level to national level Masters/Vets racing, even at an international level if we include the 2014 Tour of Fiji. I've ticked off everything I'd ever hoped to achieve over the years while being supported by KPC and their sub-sponsors.
Although everything we train for is about winning races, that is only a small component of the much bigger picture.
Establishing KPC in 2009 meant over the years it grew with the emergence of social media as a platform to communicate with the cycling community and our supporters. Website updates were overtaken by more time critical and content rich Facebook posts, along with Twitter, Instagram, etc. All of which we've worked pretty hard behind the scenes with our sponsors and our riders to provide value and establish KPC as a known group of hard working, honest, and respected athletes.
I truly believe we've achieved all of the above, and more.
As KPC enters the 7th year, along comes a number of changes in regard to team management and commercial sponsor arrangements. And as I enter my 10th year of competitive cycling with my eyes firmly fixed on the 2016 World Masters ITT Championships in Perth, I will be leaving the KPC ranks.
I depart KPC while it is in a very good place. With plans to run parallel Elite and Masters VRS teams for the 2015 road season, and new sponsorship and support arrangements on the way for the riders. They'll do very well, and I'm proud of what we've created.
This isn't about me hanging up the bike. I've been hitting some of my best pre-season numbers in a long time. Let's just say I've gone off the front.
I've clocked up over 150 race wins while representing Kosdown over the last six years. Time trials, road races, criteriums, prologues, track events, from club level to national level Masters/Vets racing, even at an international level if we include the 2014 Tour of Fiji. I've ticked off everything I'd ever hoped to achieve over the years while being supported by KPC and their sub-sponsors.
Although everything we train for is about winning races, that is only a small component of the much bigger picture.
Establishing KPC in 2009 meant over the years it grew with the emergence of social media as a platform to communicate with the cycling community and our supporters. Website updates were overtaken by more time critical and content rich Facebook posts, along with Twitter, Instagram, etc. All of which we've worked pretty hard behind the scenes with our sponsors and our riders to provide value and establish KPC as a known group of hard working, honest, and respected athletes.
I truly believe we've achieved all of the above, and more.
As KPC enters the 7th year, along comes a number of changes in regard to team management and commercial sponsor arrangements. And as I enter my 10th year of competitive cycling with my eyes firmly fixed on the 2016 World Masters ITT Championships in Perth, I will be leaving the KPC ranks.
I depart KPC while it is in a very good place. With plans to run parallel Elite and Masters VRS teams for the 2015 road season, and new sponsorship and support arrangements on the way for the riders. They'll do very well, and I'm proud of what we've created.
This isn't about me hanging up the bike. I've been hitting some of my best pre-season numbers in a long time. Let's just say I've gone off the front.
1 comment:
It's been great watching you achieve so much in the blue and white kit. Here's the next ten!
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