Waitakere
ROC
CytoSport are happy to announce
their support for Waitakere ROC in
their bid to make it to Hawaii.
Waitakere ROC is an Open Womens’
Outrigger Canoe team from the
Waitakere Outrigger Canoe Club in
Auckland. Outrigger Canoeing or 'Waka
Ama' is currently the fastest growing
water sport in the nation and the
pacific rim. The team is highly
dedicated to training and competing
at the highest level. Their goal this
year is to travel to Hawaii and
compete in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai
long distance 70km Marathon race
from the island of Molokai to
Waikiki Beach, Oahu.
To
help with this goal, CytoSport are
giving a percentage of each
applicable sale to the team. To make
a purchase that will directly
benefit Waitakere ROC simply type "Waitakere
ROC' in the comments section while
you are placing your order. If you
are unsure how to do this, or have
forgotten, please email
info@cytomax.co.nz within one
week of making your purchase.
For more information about the sport
of Outrigger Canoeing go to
www.wakaama.co.nz
Tyrone, NM - Surprise: Nathan
O'Neill of the Health Net Pro
Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis won
the opening time trial of the Tour
of the Gila. Actually, it may have
been a bit of a surprise, at least
to O'Neill.
"I don't normally do that well at
altitude," the eight-time and
current Australian National Time
Trial Champion said of the ITT's
setting in the high New Mexico
desert. "I've always been a bit off.
Plus, I traveled all day (Tuesday)
from Georgia so I didn't think my
legs would be that good. But when
you've got form, sometimes it
doesn't matter."
O'Neill has form right now.
Despite the Tour de Georgia, which
ended on April 23, being his first
race of the season, O'Neill showed
his legs weren't lacking for race
pace, finishing third in the Stage 4
time trial and fourth the next day
on the climb up to Brasstown Bald.
He credited his good form to a lot
of training prior to the Tour de
Georgia, and work with his GO2
Altitude machine. It also didn't
hurt that he was well prepared for
the hilly, 15.6 mile out-and-back
course, run at about 6,000 feet of
altitude. He drove the course
Tuesday evening with assistant team
directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, and
rode it the morning before the ITT,
so he knew what he was in for.
Morning rains gave way to clear but
breezy conditions, with a
cross-tailwind heading out and a
headwind on the return portion. The
course started with a 6 km climb
followed by rollers to the turn,
then a re-trace back to the
start/finish area.
"The backside of the first climb
coming back had a bit of a pitch to
it," O'Neill said, "but it was 6 km
downhill to the finish."
Health Net Presented by Maxxis takes
4th through 6th places
To keep the pace as high as
possible, O'Neill and several other
riders equipped their Cannondale
Slice TT bikes with 58-tooth front
chain rings, couple with an 11-tooth
in the cassette. Apparently, it
worked. Not only did O'Neill take
the stage, 1:15 ahead of Ben
Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health) and
1:29 ahead of Chris Baldwin
(Toyota-United), three other riders
from Health Net Presented by Maxxis
occupied the 4th through 6th
placings.
In a surprise to some but not to
him, Roman Kilun posted the fourth
best time in the TT, just 18 seconds
behind Baldwin, the former U.S.
national time trial champion. "I've
been working hard lately, so maybe
it's not that big of a surprise,"
the Berkeley, CA resident noted
afterward. His results last weekend
at the Vuelta de Bisbee support that
notion. He posted strong results
every day despite riding the
four-stage race with no teammates,
culminating in a third-place finish
in the final stage that moved him to
third overall for the race.
"I just went out and had fun," he
said of the Gila opener. "At the
half-way point I felt really good
and I was starting to close in on
some guys who started ahead of me."
Kilun was followed by teammates Jeff
Louder in 5th place (2:02) and Ryder
Hesjedal in 6th (2:03).
The Tour of the Gila continues
Thursday with a 95-mile stage from
Silver City, NM to Mogollon,
finishing with a 5.5-mile Category 1
climb.
Notes
With four of the top six placings,
Health Net Presented by Maxxis
easily took the early lead in the
team competition, finishing a
combined 2:23 ahead of Toyota-United
and 2:42 ahead of Slipstream.
The remaining two members of the
Health Net Presented by Maxxis Gila
squad, Matt Crane and Doug
Ollerenshaw, finishing 31st and 34th
respectively.
Henderson
latest in line of Health Net Pb
Maxxis riders heading to the Pro
Tour
9 October 2006
For immediate release
Oakland,
CA - Gregory Henderson is the latest
rider to move up from the Health Net
Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
to the Pro Tour. In an effort to
fulfill Greg's lifelong dream to
ride for a Pro Tour cycling team and
race in a Grand Tour or the
Classics, Health Net Presented by
Maxxis has honored Greg's request to
release him from the 2nd year of his
agreement with the team so that he
can join T-Mobile for the 2007
season.
"I am
extremely grateful to the
management, staff and riders of
Health Net Presented by Maxxis for
allowing me to pursue my lifelong
dream of racing at the Pro Tour
level in Europe. The team has
supported me for over three years
and been instrumental in helping me
reach my highest potential as a pro
cyclist. The organization has been
absolutely critical to my
development as a rider and as a
professional."
"Clearly, Greg has played an
integral role in our organization
since he joined the team in 2004 and
you just can't replace an athlete of
his unique qualities and skills,"
said Greg Raifman, Chairman & CEO of
Momentum Sports Group, the owner of
the Health Net Presented by Maxxis
team. "At the same time, the talent
on our team is deep, it is well
managed and we have handled
situations like this in past. And
after speaking with Bob Stapleton of
T-Mobile, I'm absolutely convinced
that Greg will be taken care of at
T-Mobile, something we hope for in
connection with all of our departing
riders."
Past
accomplishments by Henderson, who is
currently racing the Jayco Herald
SunTour for Health Net Presented by
Maxxis, include winning the points
jersey at the Tour de Georgia and
the Lancaster Invitational in 2005,
while also winning at Reading and
Philadelphia in 2006, coming back
from a difficult hip injury only a
few weeks earlier.
Team
directeur sportif Jeff Corbett has
worked with Henderson since the
7Up-Maxxis days, before the team merged
with Team Health Net after the 2003
season. "I've watched him just get
better and better every year," he said.
"Moving to a Pro Tour team is the
logical next step for Hendy. Naturally,
we wish Greg all the best at his new
team, T-Mobile."
"We're
truly thankful to the management of
Health Net Presented by Maxxis for
allowing Greg to join our family at
T-Mobile," added T-Mobile General
Manager Bob Stapleton. "Clearly, Health
Net Presented by Maxxis has demonstrated
that it runs the top pro cycling program
in North America, not just in terms of
results, which have been dominant for
the last three years, but also in how it
treats its riders and staff and in its
commitment to pursuing excellence on and
off the road. It's no surprise that Greg
has improved each year he's been with
the program. The sport of cycling needs
more teams like Health Net Presented by
Maxxis and we look forward to both
working with and competing against them
in the future."
Health Net
Presented by Maxxis, which has won the
NRC team title for three consecutive
years, has a history of sending riders
to the Pro Tour ranks. "We've earned a
reputation as a squad that takes
talented riders and develops them into
riders who can compete and win at the
highest level of professional cycling,"
Raifman said. "And we're proud of that."
With its
success against Pro Tour teams racing in
North America, as well as strong results
in trips to Europe and Asia in 2006,
Health Net Presented by Maxxis has also
shown that it can win against the top
teams in the world. "This is something
we intend to keep doing more of in 2007
and beyond," Corbett added. "We're
adding talented riders each year and we
intend to continue as the top team in
North America, and one of the strongest
teams in the world."
Other recent Health Net riders to join
Pro Tour:
Jason McCartney (Discovery)
Tyler Farrar (Cofidis)
For
additional information regarding the
Team, please visit
www.teamhealthnet.com
Heart
condition forces Roulston into early
retirement.
August 31, 2006
For Immediate Release
Oakland, CA – Health Net Pro Cycling
Team Presented by
Maxxis rider Hayden Roulston has
announced his retirement
due to a serious heart condition.
“This is the worst news anyone could
ever receive, being told
they can’t do something they love.
Especially me, this is all I
know,” Roulston told One News in New
Zealand. “All I wanted to do was go
through to Beijing (2008 Olympics) 100
percent and now I can’t do it. It's a
huge shock.”
The 24-year-old from Ashburton, New
Zealand, was diagnosed with
Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular
Dysplasia (ARVD), a rare form of heart
disease in which the muscle of the right
ventricle is replaced by fat and/or
fibrous tissue. The condition causes the
right ventricle of the heart to become
dilated and lose the ability to contract
properly.
“ARVD reduces the ability of the heart
to pump blood, can lead to abnormal
heart rhythms, and is one of the leading
causes of abnormal rhythms and sudden
death in young athletes,” said Health
Net Presented by Maxxis team physician
Dr. Michael Roshon. “The bottom line is
that this is a devastating diagnosis for
anyone, but for an athlete it is an end
to their career.
“The underlying cause of ARVD is not
fully understood,” Dr. Roshon continued.
“In some cases there is a genetic cause,
while in others it is related to an
infection of the heart muscle.” The
cause of Roulston’s condition is as yet
unknown.
Roulston was well on his way to a big
year through the first three months of
this season, winning the overall title –
as well as six stages combined – of both
the Tour de Vineyards and the Tour of
Wellington in his native New Zealand. He
followed those wins with a strong ride
at the Amgen Tour of California and a
win at the McLane Pacific Foothills Road
Race the opening weekend of NRC racing
in Merced, CA.
Following McLane, he traveled to
Melbourne, Australia for the
Commonwealth Games, where he earned a
silver medal in points race. Shortly
after the Commonwealth Games, he came
down with a viral infection that had
kept him from racing the remainder of
this season.
“Hayden was, without question, one of
the strongest riders on the team at the
beginning of the year,” Health Net
Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif
Jeff Corbett said. “He has a lot of
talent, and he was developing into a
great rider. Even in the short time he
was able to ride with the team, he had a
significant impact in those races. We
missed his presence at Georgia, as well
as during our European trip. It’s a
shame that such a promising career is
being cut short by this serious
condition.”
For more information about Hayden
Roulston, visit
http://www.teamhealthnet.com/team/haydenroulston.htm.
For additional information regarding the
Team, please visit
www.teamhealthnet.com, or contact:
Jeff Sobul, Communications Director
Office (510) 832-1616
Fax (510) 832-1618
Cell (510) 334-3949
jeff@cobaltcreative.net
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