KNOW US
GET TO
"My dreams involve cycling, my big goal is to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. In 2020 I was selected by Cycling New Zealand to represent New Zealand at both the Junior Worlds Track Cycling in Cairo and Junior Worlds Road Cycling Belgium. With both events cancelled because of the pandemic I have been training for 2022.
This year I will have a chance to compete on the world stage for the Junior Track Worlds in Israel and Junior Road Worlds in Australia. Beyond that I want to travel overseas for Elite Track Championships and World Cups, and of course my big goal the 2024 Paris Olympics."
Amelia Sykes
Discovering a passion for cycling five years ago Amelia quickly rose up the ranks and has many New Zealand track and road records under her belt.
AWARDS LIST - 2022 TRACK & ROAD
National Champion U19 GOLD
First Place Time trial 500m (35.840)
First Place Individual pursuit
First Place Elimination race
First Place 15000m Points race
National U19 Time trial Winner
NZ National U19 Road Winner
NZ National Criterium Silver Place U19
CYCLIST
Elyse Fraser
A talented cyclist in her own career, Elyse raced with the New Zealand Women’s Endurance Track Squad and now a highly regarded coach. In 2021 Elyse was part of the coaching development programme at High Performance Sport.
In 2019 she raced for the Belgium Equano - Wase Zon UCI Women's team and now shares her experience with Amelia while preparing for international events.
An academic and sportsperson, while completing her Psychology and PE degree, she rowed for the New Zealand University Rowing team, which took her to Serbia and Hungary for races.
Elyse has been coaching Amelia for four years and they have had success together in the U17 and U19 Junior age range.
COACH
ACHIEVEMENTS
Performance hub
"After my results at the 2021 Track Nationals, Cycling New Zealand has selected me for the third year in a row to join the Upper South Island Performance Hub.
This initiative supports talented young riders to reach their potential in the sport of cycling, with the overarching aim of more New Zealand riders eventually competing in World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. I also believe the Hub gym programme has been very beneficial for me as it has developed my core strength and in turn largely solved some knee issues I used to have.
I join a group of 23 promising riders from U17 to U23 age classes, that are currently involved in track cycling, road cycling, mountain biking, and BMX. This is an amazing opportunity, and recognises my training dedication, teamwork, enthusiasm, and cycling ability. After being selected last year, I attended the Subway National Track Series where I learned a lot of new techniques and I got to race with other age groups all riding in one grade."
- Amelia Sykes
Junior ambitions
I live in Christchurch and currently attend Avonside Girls High School. My passion for sport started at a very young age when I attended Sumner Primary School. My success in sport started in year 5 when I won the school’s cross-country event and went on to compete at the School Eastern Zones and then Canterbury Championships. Later I went on to represent Sumner School at Canterbury Championships for other sports such as athletics, cross country running, duathlon, swimming, triathlon and mountain biking. I achieved several top five finishes, including a Canterbury school's duathlon, and mountain biking title in 2017.
I started ice speed skating at the Canterbury Alpine Ice Speed Skating Club when I was seven years old, and for seven years I trained hard to improve my technique and become a good skater. Ice speed skating was the first time that I had really good results throughout New Zealand and Internationally. There were relatively small numbers of girl speed skaters in New Zealand which meant I had to either race boys or the grade above me which was challenging. Racing in the Oceania champs in 2015 and 2016 held in Australia was competitive with big fields of skaters from many countries, I came away from those experiences a two times Oceania champion in my grade. Ice speed skating gave me a good foundation for cycling as it requires discipline, skill and involves similar muscle groups
My dad, Julian Sykes, introduced me into cycling when I was young. I used to cycle 15km to school most days from my dad's house. Getting into track cycling as well as road cycling was my first experience of what competitive cycling was like. From there I began to race a lot over the summer at track (Denton Park) and attended The Age Group Track Nationals for the first time in 2018 as an U15 rider.
CONTACT US
We are keen to hear from you!
Please contact Elyse or Amelia about sponsorship, media opportunities or donations towards her next international competition. Thanks in advance for your consideration.
