Artistic cyclist has nowhere to practise

For a Dunedin high school pupil, doing a handstand on a bicycle is easier than finding a place to practise her passion.

Queen’s High School year 9 pupil Martha Lippross, 13, emigrated from Germany six months ago and brought the sport of artistic cycling with her.

She said the sport was like ‘‘doing gymnastics on a bike’’ and required every muscle in the body to be engaged to find balance.

Martha said during competition, the cyclists would have five minutes to perform their routines and a panel of judges scored them on their skills.

She said she loved the sport because of how different it was. However, New Zealanders did not know a lot about it and there were no spaces she could practice in.

Although she had no fear of falling — even after breaking an arm training — she did not want to train on concrete surfaces.

She had been turned away from the Edgar Centre because when she fell it made too much noise and was disruptive to others and the gym at Queen’s was coated in a substance that would be damaged by her bicycle tyres.

Martha was looking for a place to train so she could go to Germany to compete.

In Germany, she had three different coaches and in New Zealand she only had her mother.

mark.john@odt.co.nz