Otago Boys' - take a bow

21/12/2007

While there is much doom and gloom in the minds of many about the New Zealand sporting year of 2007, this week’s New Zealand Herald produced an article which highlighted a number of significant successes.

And it may well be Otago Boys’ High School tops the polls this year when it comes to producing champions.

Listed at number six in the top 10 is cyclist Greg Henderson (1990-94). Greg took out a UCI World Cup points race, that effort following on from a number a stellar performances on the global scene in recent years.

Herald writers Dylan Cleaver and Michael Brown penned the following –

Cycling took a bit of a hit when glamour girl Sarah Ulmer called time on her brilliant career in November after failing to recover from a sciatic nerve injury.

Greg Henderson - cycling supremo

Into the void rode Dunedin cyclist and former world scratch race champion Greg Henderson.

This (the World Cup points race) was no patsy field. Racing again him were current world champion Joan Llaneras from Spain and Russian Olympic champion Mikhail Ignatiev. Add to that Australian favourite Cameron Meyer and you have a truly world-class event.

Henderson made an early break but saved his best work until late in the race when he chased down a potential race-winning break, taking the field with him. He somehow still had the strength to finish third in the final sprint.

“He worked incredibly hard in a very tight field to take the title. It was a sensational ride, full of intelligence, speed and courage”, said team manager Craig Adair.

And in a closely-fought decision for top spot, the New Zealand coxless rowing four's world championship winning effort in Munich - with Carl Meyer (1995-99) and Hamish Bond (1999-2003) on board - was named as the second best New Zealand sporting performance of the year.

The Herald wrote –

The coxless four has been all about two crews over the past couple of years - the Netherlands and Great Britain. Nobody really considered this duopoly could be challenged, not least of all by New Zealand, who for years had been confined largely to honest efforts from the outside lanes.

Hamish Bond (far left) and Carl Meyer (far right) - half of the world championship coxless four

That all changed this year.

Hamish Bond and James Dallinger joined stalwarts Eric Murray and the inspirational Carl Meyer. With unstinting dedication and a work ethic that would frighten army ants, the four clawed themselves up to the big boys. In Munich, they passed them, despite being sixth and last at the halfway mark.

“We were wondering why a few people were screaming at us ‘what they hell are you doing?’” said Murray.

“We really only got into it in the last 250 metres but we were first across the line so, on the day, we were the best crew out there.”

Fantastic.

World champion shot putter Valerie Vili took top billing.