Ambassadors
Meet our Ambassadors
We’ve got some very cool ambassadors signed up and ready to take on the 2025 Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge. You can meet them and follow along with their training journey here. You may find it inspiring or you may find it entertaining but either way these guys are awesome and we thank them for sharing their story!
Bryony Botha riding the Round the Lake
After spending the past few years building towards the 2024 Olympic Games, I’m now enjoying a bit more balance spending less time on the track and shifting my focus to the road. This year, I’ll be racing across the U.S. with the Fearless Femme team, competing in criteriums and road races around the country for 4 months. What I love most about riding is the way it lets me disconnect from everything (e.g. phone, uni, work etc.) and explore places I’d never otherwise see.
- Bryony
Ian Jones
“My name is Ian Jones an ageing age athlete and riding forms a big part of my training for endurance events. I love the social aspect of riding and found it has been an amazing way to see a lot of our country”
- Ian
Nick Blincoe riding the Round the Lake
Nick Blincoe grew up in competitive sport representing NZ in school rugby, and playing in the 2004 World Champion U19 World Cup team for NZ. In June 2010, one tackle changed Nick’s life. Nick acquired a brachial plexus injury playing rugby which left him with no feeling or movement in his left arm from below his elbow, and little control of his shoulder. Soon after his injury Nick knew he wanted to be part of Para sport. Nick first started Para cycling in 2015, narrowly missing selection for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Between 2019 to 2024 Nick raced in multiple World Championships, with a highlight being 6th in the Kilo time trial in 2019 and 2020. In the 2023 World Championships, Nick placed 3rd in the 200m Time Trial, and claimed 11th in the C4 Omnium. Turning to road riding, he has competed twice in the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge Shimano Round the Lake and is hooked. His fastest time to date was in 2024, with a time of 4:28:50. Nick returns year after year to encourage others with challenges to overcome these challenges.