Timaru’s Jonathan Nelson has been given a huge boost in his bid for the Paralympics dream by being selected to represent New Zealand at the UCI Paracycling Road World Championships in Canada, in August.

The 29-year-old hand cyclist will also compete in a UCI World Cup event in Canada as a lead-up to the event before he competes in a time trial and road race Nelson said he was ecstatic to get the call confirming he had made the team after a gruelling four months which Paralympics New Zealand had told him would be the most important of his career “I’m blown away, I’ve trained my butt off for the last two years, so to get the call was a a relief.”

It also allows him and his North Island-based coach to throw out “plan B” had he not made the team. The qualifying mark was an average speed of 32.8kmh over 15kms during the Australian Hand Cycling Series. “This is the biggest race of my career,” Nelson said. “Up until now, I’ve competed only against other New Zealanders and the Australians.” The world’s best will be at the event, including hand cyclists from Europe and America who compete on a world circuit. Nelson said the unknown was both exciting and nerve-wracking. He is averaging between 200km and 250km a week in training but that distance will increase over the next few months.