10 April 2015
KAWERAU BMX racer Sarah Walker made a token contribution to the BMX national championships over Easter weekend then watched from the sidelines.
A mountain biking knee injury, suffered taking part in the Rotorua Crankworx off road competition at the end of March, meant she was unfit to compete in the nationals, staged in Christchurch.
Walker said she “rolled along the course” during a Friday race but sat out the following two days.
“Obviously it was extremely frustrating to watch but, big picture stuff, it made sense to stand back.”
The knee injury was not major but did need a fortnight’s rest to heal.
The nationals was to have been the start of a long-awaited comeback for Walker after she suffered a much more serious crash in the final round of the UCI Supercross world Cup in California in September.
Walker said qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympics could be achieved three ways: her results over either three years or one year could qualify her; or she could make it based on her world championship outcome immediately prior to the games.
She was intent on making the grade over the one-year timeframe, running from June this year to May 2016.
“At this stage it’s really hard to say if I’ve got the consistency, but it should be straightforward.”
She would be overseas racing from June till October and again from March till May next year.
Based now in Cambridge, Walker said she was training six days a week.
National results:
Elite men final: Matt Cameron (New Plymouth) 1, Michael Bias (North Harbour) 2, Kurt Pickard (Tauranga) 3, Cody Stevens (Tauranga) 4, Daniel Franks (North Avon Christchurch) 5. Elite women: Rebecca Petch (Te Awamutu) 1, Victoria Hill (New Plymouth) 2, Zoe Fleming (Papakura) 3, Courtney Brunton (Te Awamutu) 4, Hannah Sarten (Te Awamutu) 5.
Junior men: Codi Merito (Te Awamutu) 1, Liam Perry (Kapiti) 2, James Nattrass (Papakura) 3.
Source: Whakatane Beacon