YOUNG CANTERBURY CYCLISTS SHOW PROMISE

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30977, 5 February 1966, Page 11

YOUNG CANTERBURY CYCLISTS SHOW PROMISE

r pWO young riders whose brief careers have much in common are among the most interesting prospects in Canterbury cycling. They are the leading novice rider 15-year-old A. A. Paviell, and K. G. Sword, who has just entered the amateur ranks.

Their records show a similar degree of achievement, but their attitudes are greatly different. Paviell considers he may go to Australia in three or four years’ time—“if .1 turn out any good”—to gain experience.

Sword, on the other hand is not over-ambitious. He competes in cycling simply for the sport and, in any case, regards himself as “not good enough.” Be that as it may, Sword certainly made a fine impression in the earlier track meetings at English Park. Competing in the B grade, he ran up an imposing series of fine performances and was soon rehandiicapped to such an extent that he is now about the third-to-back marker in his grade. Even so, Sword is still returning solid performances, although he finds the amateur ranks harder than the novices.

Paviell, with the absence of competition from Sword, now only has to compete against long handicaps. But the long leads he concedes seem only to push him a little faster.

Sword, who has no family background in cycling, apart from his brother Graham, who is a consistent A grade rider, has been interested in the sport for six years and a half, although he has only been treating it seriously for the last three. Paviell. whose father, J. Paviell, was a Canterbury 25 miles road champion, has only been competing for little more than three years. He had almost instant success for, after only a year, he had earned a third placing in the Canterbury 10 miles road championship. The. following year, the 1964-65 summer, he won the South Island mile title on the track, as well as the Canterbury quarter - mile and was second in the provincial mile title. He also won the Buller 50 miles road title last year. This track season, fast times have been prominent: a record 29.25ec for a flying 440 yards in the Little Olympics at Timaru, and 13.4 sec for 'the last 200 yards in one of his 500 metres sprint challenges. Sword, however, has never won any Canterbury title events. He has two

seconds in Canterbury road events and two or three thirds on the track. Unluckiness has followed him to national titles. A year ago, he was fourth twice in semi-finals and missed qualifying by a hairsbreadth. He fell off after 100 yards in the 1964 New Zealand road championship and never caught up. Sword performed very well on the South Canterbury circuit over last Christmas and New Year and in three “Devil take the Hindmost” events, a race he particularly enjoys was first every time. Last year, his last as a novice on the road, Sword accumulated a handsome little collection of trophies and climaxed his “apprenticeship” with fastest time in the 30 kilometres classic, a performance dear to his heart as it was his last event in the grade. Sword is now an amateur and finding things much

harder; Paviell is already outclassing the other novices and still has the road season to go before he joins Sword. When he does, his performances will also be watched with intense interest.