As Marshall Erwood waited on the side of the road and watched the race leaders speed off into the distance it would have been easy to give up.

With only 10km left in the under 19 men’s national road championships, a seemingly-endless wait for a new front wheel and the prospect of a solo ride should have been the end of any serious chance of winning the title, even for someone as talented as the lanky Southlander.

Give up? Nup.

Instead, Erwood got back on his bike, caught up to a chasing group of riders and - excuse the pun - marshalled them into an attack against the runaway group who were closing in on the finish line.

The resulting physical and mental effort required should have disqualified Erwood as a threat in the sprint finish to the line, but instead he would go on to miss out on another national title by the barest of margins.

There are second placings and then there are second placings. This is one that Erwood and his coach Julian Ineson were particularly proud of.

“I was pretty proud of it,” Erwood says.

Photo: Eugene Bonthuys/Cycling Southland

“At the time I didn’t think I could get back, to be honest. I was out in no man’s land and chasing by myself. To catch both groups was pretty special and just shows - never give up.”

“I was stoked for him, that his true potential shone through,” Ineson says.

“The way he handled that was fantastic. It really showed him that he’s got the strength, he’s got the attitude and he’s got the speed. To be second by 0.07sec after chasing for 10km…sometimes you need an unfortunate situation like that to show you that you can do it.”

In a nice postscript to the event, Ineson was equally proud when Erwood rode around the circuit after the race to thank all the volunteers on the corners.

I JUST LOVE RIDING MY BIKE

“I love to get out there and give it my best,” Erwood says.

“If something goes wrong or I’m not getting the result that I want, I just want to train harder and prove myself for the next time. I just enjoy going out for a ride with my mates and having fun.”

Erwood had done a bit of mountainbiking, but not much else, when a family friend convinced him to try out the SIT Velodrome’s Baltic pine.

Over the next few weeks he set himself the goal of reaching the top of the steeply-banked track and when he did that, he didn’t look back. In fact, his coach’s toughest challenge is usually getting him off his bike.

“This is a guy that you have to convince to take a day off,” Ineson says.

““He’s continued to learn from situations where he hasn’t got a call from an official or there was a problem with the gearing - he recognises he’s learning a lot from a lot of good people around him - from the Academy, from his parents, from Cycling Southland and from his coach, everyone involved.””

— Julian Ineson

“He will ride his bike all day long. He loves the sport, he’s passionate about it, he enjoys meeting up with his cycling mates and also the intensity and the tactics of the racing and that drive to be there at the sharp end of a race.”

Erwood’s ability to recover from concerted efforts on the road or track, along with an allrounder’s knack for being a threat on attack as well as in the final sprint, give him an advantage over many of his peers.

Over the summer he has also matured as a rider, utilising the knowledge from those closest to him, including the SBS Bank Academy Southland, which provides Southland’s best young athletes with support in athlete life, mental skills, nutrition and strength and conditioning.

“He’s really starting to apply the things we’ve been working on for a number of years,” Ineson says.

“He’s continued to learn from situations where he hasn’t got a call from an official or there was a problem with the gearing - he recognises he’s learning a lot from a lot of good people around him - from the Academy, from his parents, from Cycling Southland and from his coach, everyone involved.”

Over the past few months Erwood has finished second at the madison and omnium championships, third at the criterium championships, and second at the road nationals.

At the national track championships on his home ‘drome he was awarded the trophy for the most points by an under 19 rider after winning the 1000m time trial, scratch and elimination races, as well as teaming up with Jesse Willis and Magnus Jamieson to win the under 19 team sprint. The trio were joined by Tom Kerr to finish second in the senior men’s team pursuit and were the fastest under 19 combination. Erwood was also second in the individual pursuit and points race. Not a bad haul.

“It was a pretty big campaign and now it’s set me up for the Oceania champs (this) week,” Erwood said.

THE FUTURE

Erwood will get his first taste of international racing when he contests both the Oceania track and road championships in Brisbane this week.

During that event New Zealand’s top young riders will be waiting for confirmation of the national team for the UCI’s junior world track championships, being held in Colombia in August.

Erwood, Jamieson and Otago’s James Gardyne are considered strong chances of selection. Southland’s Caitlin Kelly should also be in the selection mix. There’s also the junior road world championships being held in Scotland, although there are significant scheduling and fundraising challenges involved in attending both.

In fact, the pinnacle road event for Erwood in 2023 is a likely debut in the SBS Bank Tour of Southland in late October.

“I’m really pumped about that,” he says.

“After sitting in a van for three years and watching it, to finally get the opportunity this year to ride it, it’s going to be pretty special. Riding past my school and around Southland, it’s going to be really, really special.”

Competing the year after Josh Burnett became the first Southlander since the mid-1990s to win a home tour added another element, Erwood says.

“I was there when Josh won and it definitely wasn’t easy winning it. You had the Aussies and a strong lineup, even the defending champion Michael Vink. I’d love to get a stage or even just a good result out of the Tour of Southland one year.”

Despite having just turned 18, Ineson has fielded a number of enquiries about Erwood’s plans once he finishes school at the end of the year.

“There’s been a lot of discussion between ourselves and he certainly has some interest from some teams nationally and internationally. We are just trying to manage those expectations because it’s very exciting when you get contacted by a team, but he’s only just turned 18 in February and he’s still trying to get through his schooling,” Ineson says.

“To get into a team and learn how being part of a team works is definitely on the radar. We’ll wait to get through these championships and then look at those options. There are lots of considerations, including the cost of racing - fundraising to get to Colombia will be huge, but one thing we’ve proved and I always say is that you don’t have go to everything, you perform where you need to perform and the results will speak for themselves.”

The thought of racing his bike overseas is something that drives Erwood.

“Next year I really want to go over to Europe and get a taste of riding on the circuit, riding for like a development team over there. The good results that Kiwis are bringing in overseas, they are wanting more Kiwis, so hopefully someone like myself could get a shot at riding over there.”