Focus on cycling paying off for Prudence Fowler

Prudence Fowler winning the U17 road race at the recent Age Group Road Race Nationals. PHOTO: Dave Lintott Photography.

“I’ve kind of just narrowed it down to cycling now, so I can focus on that,” responds Prudence Fowler when asked for her preference of choice of sports.

After all, the year 11 Diocesan School for Girls athlete has competed in swimming, triathlon, water polo and rowing to a high level. Last year she was in crews that finished fourth and seventh respectively in Coxed Four and Coxed Eight Maadi Cup A Finals and she was the Dio’s U15 Rower of the Year.

“I have played three or four sports and I like them all, but I for now I’m concentrating on cycling.”

For good reason too.

In March the first year U17 age group competitor won gold in the 2000m individual pursuit at the age group track nationals in Invercargill and less than a fortnight ago she won both the U17 girls time trial and the U17 girls road race at the age group road nationals in the Wairarapa. 

Backing up her win last year in the U15 category, Prudence didn’t just win the opening day time 15km trial, she thrashed the rest of the 19-strong U17 girls field – winning by 42 seconds.

“I knew I had a chance to do well, but wasn’t expecting to do as well I did,” she said. “The time trial was seeded and because this was my first time in the U17s I was in the middle of the field, so I crossed the line and then I had to wait for the others to come in.

​"It was also really windy so that made it harder.”

Representing her Te Awamutu Sports club, Prudence said the 66km two-lap road race the next day was a tough race.

“There was a breakaway on the first lap, so there was a smaller group of about seven of us. We rode together for the majority of the race and then there was a group sprint and I won,”
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Ella Wyllie (representing Counties Manukau) and Lucy Buckeridge (North Harbour Cycling), Henrietta Christie (Leeston Cycling Club), Maadi Douglas (Te Awamutu) and  Lucy Humpheson and Olivia Kikstra (both Canterbury Time Trial Assn) finished behind Prudence in the sprint finish.

At the Age Group Track Nationals in March.

Prudence said that her recent success on the track helped her find that extra kick at the end of the road race nationals.

“I quit rowing so that I could do track cycling over the summer,” she explains.

“I hadn’t really done any track when I started the season and I went down to the Waikato champs just before Christmas and I won the pursuit there. It was my first track championship event.”

From there, she targeted the National Age Grade track championships in March and backed up her Waikato 2,000m individual pursuit win with gold at the nationals in a winning time of 2.33.395.

She also won gold in the U17 Team Pursuit and gold in the U17 Madison in March.

In winning the pursuit title, Prudence is hoping to follow in the footsteps of recent Commonwealth Games competitors Emma Cumming and Ellese Andrews. Cumming won bronze in the 500m time trial on the Gold Coast, while last year’s St Peter’s School year 13 cyclist Andrews rode 2:18.080 to smash the junior 2,000m IP world record by four seconds.
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Plus another famous Auckland Dio old girl. “Sarah Ulmer is an ex-Dio girl, so she is someone to look up to for that reason as well.” Ulmer won gold and set a then world record in the 3000m IP at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. 

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Racing for her school Auckland Dio at the School Nationals last year.

Prudence’s coach is Hayden Roulston, a former professional road cyclist who also won silver in the men’s 3000m IP at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

She has been playing sport all her life, and gets it from her family. Her older sister is a former school athlete while her father is an ironman athlete and has competed at Kona in Hawaii a couple of times.

As well as cycling, Prudence is still swimming a couple of times a week for fitness and variety.

What’s coming up next? “The school season is starting to kick off. There’s the North Islands in July, then schools nationals [in Christchurch this year] and then it is straight back into the club stuff again.”
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At last year’s school nationals In the Manawatu she didn’t finish the U15 road due to technical problems but she won the U15 points race the following day. She also won the U15 time trial and the U15 Criterium. 

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