Good luck to Campbell Stewart who is a finalist in the Emerging Talent category at the Halberg Awards. The Halberg Awards is the country's pre-eminent event to honour and celebrate New Zealand sporting excellence. The 53rd Halberg Awards will take place at Vector Arena on Thursday, 18 February, 2016.
Recently Isaiah Smiler spoke with Campbell for the first article in our 2016 Student Profile series:
Student Profiles : Campbell Stewart
For the first set of student profiles I got the opportunity to sit down with Year 13 student, 2015 Dux Ludorum, and double world champion Campbell Stewart.
IS: So you've obviously had a lot of success so far in your cycling career including two world titles. Who would you say has had the most influence on you in terms of your cycling career?
CS: I believe that my biggest influence has been my family and coach. This is because of how my family helps me to balance my life between cycling and school while always helping me in any other areas I need. While my coach Mike McRedmond has been a mentor who directs me in the right direction with training and racing.
IS: How much training do you do a week and what sort of training do you do?
CS: Each week I have six bike sessions ranging from road rides to motorpacing on the Feilding Velodrome. All sessions are very specific with efforts or certain times that need to be reached.
IS: PNBHS cycling has been on a roll as of late with several national team and individual titles, as well as a handful of New Zealand representatives. What would you say is in store for the schools cycling this year and into the future?
CS: Yes the strength of cycling is very strong at school. I believe because of this it means that this year and the future is looking very bright meaning many more national titles to come.
IS: Apart from your two world titles, what has been your biggest success?
CS: I think my biggest success is the consistency that I try to always have whether it is club racing all the way to world champs. By doing this it means when the race is hard and fast I am able to cope because of all the training and racing before the events.
IS: What advice do you have for young aspiring cyclists who want to be successful?
CS: The main piece of advice I can give is make sure you enjoy whatever you are doing. This is because later, when the training's get longer and harder, it will mean you will want to be out there training and racing. From all that hard work will be success.
