ALISON SHANKS

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Alison Shanks Rides Zen to World Championship Victory

Champagne isn’t the usual way that the engineering team at Dynamic Composites starts their day, but it was on 26th March 09. The reason? Celebrating Alison Shank’s World Track Cycling Championship win, riding a bike that each and every one of them had a hand in designing and creating.

Shanks won gold in the women’s individual pursuit at the 2009 World Track Cycling Championships in Poland. She covered the 3000 metre distance in just 3:29.807, more than two seconds faster than her rival from Great Britain, and joins an elite handful of women ever to ride under 3 minutes 30.

Technical Director of Dynamic Composites, Milton Bloomfield couldn’t hide his delight, “this is what makes the long hours and hard work worthwhile. Working with world-class athletes is both a privilege and a pleasure, and we couldn’t be happier for Alison”.

The Christchurch-based team has been producing Zen bikes and wheels for several years now and is relentless in its pursuit of continual improvements for the athletes. Bike technology has moved on significantly since they designed Sarah Ulmer’s World Championship Zen bike in 2004, and the latest version was delivered to Alison just two weeks before her World Championship bid at a training camp in Invercargill.