Tour Information for Schools

It's almost PowerNet Tour time again and the 2009 PowerNet Tour of Southland will be passing by approximately 70 schools throughout the province as the cyclists and support vehicles travel the length and breadth of Southland.

The PowerNet Tour will be raced from Monday, 2 November to Saturday, 7 November and has attracted an international field of in excess of 100 cyclists, including New Zealand's own champion, Hayden Roulston.

During the PowerNet Tour we have some exciting promotions planned that may be of interest to your school.

Before the PowerNet Tour, a representative from the Police Youth Education Service or Sport Southland will be visiting as many Southland schools on the Tour route as possible promoting the PowerNet Tour, Cycle Safety, and Road Safety and Health messages. Your school will be contacted in the near future and will be offered the opportunity for the representatives to come and speak to your school at an assembly.

PowerNet Tour of Southland "Flag"

This year there is an official PowerNet Tour of Southland "Flag", which is a lime green flag with the PowerNet Tour of Southland and PowerNet Limited graphics on them.  These flags have been couriered out to all schools who are visited along the PowerNet Tour route.  We hope to see you all at the roadside waving your PowerNet Tour Flag.  The support shown by Schools in the past has been truly tremendous and it really encourages all the cyclists racing in the PowerNet Tour.  Cyclists often comment about how great it was to have all the young school students supporting them.

The PowerNet Tour Flags will be available to the general public as well, so let everyone know that they are available!

Also at the conclusion of each race the cyclists have been asked to make themselves available to the public to sign PowerNet Tour Flags.

"Riding with the Stars"

An invitation is extended to all Southlanders to take part in Stage Zero of the PowerNet Tour. This will be held on Sunday, 1 November, starting at the Feldwick Gates, Queens Park, Invercargill at 1.30 pm. This will be an opportunity for cyclists, young and old, to ride with the Stars of the Tour. This event will take approximately one hour.

Could you please encourage children at your school to come and be part of Stage Zero. Participants are asked to provide their own bike and helmet please. Spot prizes will be awarded on the day.

School visits during the Tour

During the week of the PowerNet Tour, schools located on the PowerNet Tour route shall be visited by Sport Southland staff and or NZ Police, who will be encouraging students to remember their road safety practises. It is intended where possible for schools to be rung 10-15 mintues before the arrival of the cyclists.

Three Tour Competitions

There are three school competitions being held in conjunction with the PowerNet Tour.  They are as follows:

• PowerNet Tour of Southland "be in with a chance to win" competition
• The Southland Times "win a bike" competition
• Share the Road "Design a Banner" competition

For more information on these three competitions for the PowerNet Tour please read on:

PowerNet Tour of Southland “be in with a chance to win” competition
 

A 21 speed Avanti Black Thunder Mountain Bike. Simply visit the PowerNet Tour website on www.tourofsouthland.com and register your name to be in the draw to win this great prize. Leave your email address and name in the space provided and we will email PowerNet Tour news as it happens.  Entrants must be 15 years of age and under please.

Southland Times "win a bike” competition

Here’s your chance to win an Avanti Mountain Bike with The Southland Times. For full competition details check out your copy of The Southland Times on Wednesday 28^th October 2009. 

Share the Road “Design a Banner” competition

Share the Road and Sport Southland, as part of our role with the PowerNet Tour and our partners Road Safety Southland, Police and Road Sense are running a great competition in the lead-up to and during the PowerNet Tour.

The banner competition will be familiar to many of you and has proved very popular in past years. This year sees a few changes around the content of the banners.

Conditions of entry:

• Banners are to be no greater than 1meter by 2 meters and no smaller than A3.
• The Banner must display the Share the Road Logo.
• The banner must include a ‘Share the Road’ or ‘Being a safe and responsible rider’ message on it which is easily read (Give cyclists space, don’t burst our bubble, be bright on your bike etc).
• Each banner must include the names, ages and school of those who contributed to it on the reverse side.
• The banner may include graphics and can be made of any medium.
• The banner must be able to be hung on a flat surface.
• Banners must be at Sport Stadium (Stadium Southland) by 4pm Wednesday 4th November.
• The banners will be displayed in the passageway to Courts 1 and 2 in Stadium Southland until Friday 13^th November. Banners need to be collected from Sport Southland by Wednesday 18^th November after which the banners will become the property of Sport Southland.

This year all schools who submit an entry will receive: 

• One bike helmet with a reflecting light with the value of $49 – Generously supported by Gladstone Cycle.
• PLUS free admission for one class per school to attend a session of the Oceania Cycling Championships to be held at the Velodrome from 11-14 November.
• PLUS the attending class will have the opportunity to meet with a competing cyclist.