Nor'West News: October 02, 2018

NOR’WEST NEWS Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Tuesday October [Edition 2 datE] 2018 17 3
SPORTS
continuing education
Night classes
at Papanui
High School
BIG MOMENT: Burnside High School cyclist Erin Downie will represent New
Zealand at the Oceania track cycling championships in Adelaide next week.
PHOTO: RICHARD MCBREARTY
Burnside teen on
track to make NZ
As the weather gets warmer and the
evenings get longer it is the ideal time to
get out of the house and learn something
new and meet some new people by taking
part in one of the wide range of nightclasses
on offer at Papanui High School for Term 4
beginning from Tuesday 23 October.
From Art to Yoga and everything in
between we are sure regardless of your
age or interest you will find something
to tempt you. Classes at Papanui High
School are held in a warm, friendly relaxed
environment and our tutors are supportive
and well qualified in their chosen fields.
One of our new courses on offer for Term
4 is an introductory course in Traditional
Chinese Massage (Tui-na). Traditional
Chinese Massage is part of Traditional
Chinese Medicine (TCM) and this course
will cover Therapeutic Acupressure
Massage using Traditional Chinese
Medicine and practice. You will learn the
efficacy of acupuncture points, how to
find the correct acupuncture points and
how to use these points to relieve and treat
pain along with learning different massage
techniques. This course is being taught by
Chuhua Gao and will be held at Papanui
High School on a Tuesday night 7-8 pm for
6 weeks starting on 23 October at a cost of
$80.
For further information and enrolment
in this or any of our Term 4 courses please
visit our website on www.papanui.school.
nz or email rpb@papanui.school.nz or
telephone our office on 3520701
debut in Adelaide
• By Jacob Page
BURNSIDE HIGH School
track cyclist Erin Downie
gets by with a little help
from her friends and
family.
The 16-year-old,
who lives in Avonhead,
has been named in the
New Zealand track cycling
team for the first time.
She will compete at the
Oceania track cycling
championships in Adelaide
from October 11-13.
Erin competes in both
road and track cycling
events, and started her
competitive journey on
a $300 road bike that
her mum Lee purchased
second-hand.
As she grew to love
track cycling, her dad
Chris found a bike frame
and built the bike she still
uses today with bits and
pieces he found on auction
sites.
“I wouldn’t be in this
position without my
parents,” she said.
“A lot of my time is
taken up with training so a
lot of the financial burden
falls on them.”
Erin is a former
Canterbury age-group
Erin Downie
middle distance runner,
cross-country athlete and
footballer, but now her
time is spent solely on the
bike seat.
“I tried to do all of them
when I first started as an
11-year-old but, as my
love of cycling grew, I gave
them up,” she said.
“People used to look at
my bike and do a doubletake
because it’s not a big
brand bike obviously. The
whole Canterbury track
cycling community has
been so helpful in getting
me here.
“I’ve had to borrow a
lot of different gear and
everyone has been really
accommodating.”
Erin said with Hornby’s
Denton Park velodrome
being outdoors and “quite
shaded”, it often meant she
was unable to train on it
during winter because it
was too wet.
With the best track
options being in
Invercargill or Cambridge,
she has done a lot of her
preparation on the road,
or in her garage on a
stationary bike.
“I think I’ve done quite
well to make the team
considering the best
option to train is eight
hours away,” she said.
Erin doesn’t know what
events she will compete
in, but is hopeful she will
get a chance to race in
the under-19 individual
pursuit.
“That will be a good
level for me to test where
I’m at and, if I could get
a personal best, that’d be
great.”
Erin said she still
had ambitions to ride
internationally on both
the track and road and did
not want to commit to one
discipline just yet.
From Art to
Yoga and
everything
in between