Taryn Heather Selected to Join NTID

Taryn Heather Selected to Join NTID

The Club is pleased to report that one of its female members, Taryn Heather, has been selected to join the National Talent Identification Program (NTID) run by the Australian Sports Commission. Taryn has been selected to join the cycling program, which is run by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), in conjunction with the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI). The program is responsible for the implementation of talent identification and development initiatives in a number of sports, including cycling. From a cycling point of view the program is designed to prepare cyclists for international events such as the 2012 Olympics and for racing on the European professional circuit.

Following Taryn’s recent second placing in the SA State Time Trial Championships in April, she was invited to participate in a series of staged power output tests in Adelaide. Her results, which compared favourably to Australia’s current elite female road and track cyclists, saw her receive an invitation to join the NTID. Taryn has started on a training program developed by Ben Cook and Tim Decker, the AIS and SASI cycling coaches respectively. Training currently consists of a mixture of interval and endurance components that sees Taryn clocking up about 650 km per week!

Taryn and her husband Ryan will shortly depart on a five week holiday to Europe, which will include a couple of weeks of cycling in France, on the 2010 Tour de France route no less! On her return, Taryn will start a more intense training program and will also need to consider relocating to Adelaide to be closer to the AIS and SASI coaches and resources. From a racing point of view Taryn will continue to compete in MCCC events but will also be contesting races such as the Tour of Geelong in August and the National road events in Ballarat in January 2011.

The Club is excited that one of its members has been selected to join the NTID and we wish Taryn all the best in her cycling career. The Club will do what it can to support her and Ryan and is happy to announce that one of our major sponsors, Bicycle Superstore Mildura, is providing Taryn with a new race bike. Taryn will soon be racing on a new Fondriest TF3 road bike thanks to Michael Murdoch and the Fondriest importer, Esperia. The Club has no doubt that Taryn will do well in her chosen sporting field, as she is already putting our current crop of scratch riders under considerable pressure in races!