For Sarah Walker, New Zealands fastest woman on two wheels, speed is living. She holds a healthy respect for speed, knowing it can make or break a rider in her intrepid sport of BMX.
Speed can be unnerving, admits the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, whos suffered her fair share of spills, broken bones and bruised confidence. But rather than fearing speed, 27-year-old Walker channels it into acceleration, momentum and lightning-fast reaction when she lines up at the starting gate.
Speed in BMX is crucial. When the gate drops youve got two seconds to hit 60km an hour; anything less is too slow. It takes us on average 38 seconds to get around the track. The race is over in a flash. When you are going that fast, you dont have time to think; thinking is slow. Everything is done on muscle memory, feeling and instinct.
On the comeback from a terrible crash which left her with arm and head injuries, Walker won bronze at the world championship time trial in July and is making her mark on the international circuit - aiming for the 2016 Rio Olympics. I intend to inspire by challenging the future BMXers to push their limits to see exactly what is possible!
Walkers inspiration as a young girl was another Kiwi champion of speed, Sarah Ulmer.
The track cycling legend was a master at harnessing speed. She may not have been the fastest out of the blocks in the individual pursuit, but by the time she won gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens setting a cracking world record time along the way Ulmer was an expert at keeping the same blinding pace for all 3000m of the race; even when the lactic acid was biting into her legs, her lungs were aflame and her upper body was numb.
Newly-crowned double world champion Lisa Carrington is another Kiwi athlete who uses speed to succeed. As well as an exceptional technique and natural affinity with the water, the sprint canoeist is renowned for her speed, power and endurance.
She stormed to gold in the womens K1 200 at the 2012 London Games, kayakings equivalent of the 100m sprint on the athletics track. Its all over in 40 seconds, so theres not much room for error. Youve got to focus on doing the little things right, and not worry about the outcome, she says. Her focus on the path to Rio is to hone her skills and get faster in every aspect of her race.
Arthur Porritt packed an incredible life into his 93 years - the Governor General of New Zealand, a life member of the International Olympic Committee and surgeon to the British royal family. But above all else, he is remembered for a 10.9 second sprint at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Porritt, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, used a burst of adrenalin to power himself from the back of the field at the halfway point of the 100m mens sprint final, to claim bronze at the finish-line. His friend, Englishman Harold Abrahams, won gold and the race was immortalised in the movie, Chariots of Fire.
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