Toni Bradshaw

Not to be confused with Tony Bradshaw.

Toni Strong
Personal information
BornToni Janne Bradshaw
(1976-02-25) 25 February 1976
New Zealand
Sport
CountryNew Zealand
Sport
Medal record
Representing  New Zealand
Women's road cycling
Oceania Road Cycling Championships
2005 Wanganui Road race

Toni Janne Bradshaw (married name Strong; born 25 February 1976) is a former New Zealand triathlete and road cyclist. She represented her country at four UCI Road World Championships, in the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010, and at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In 2005, she won the bronze medal in the women's road race at the Oceania Road Cycling Championships.

Early life and education

Bradshaw was born on 25 February 1976.[1] She studied at the University of Otago, graduating with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy in December 1997.[2] Bradshaw later earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Sport Medicine from Otago in 2007.[3]

Triathlon

In 1997, Bradshaw represented New Zealand at the ITU triathlon age-group world championships in Perth, placing 24th in a time of 2:19:36 in the women's 20–24 year-old event.[4] The following year, she won the Otago triathlon title,[2] and finished 19th in the 20–24 years category at the age-group world championships in Lausanne, recording a time of 2:33:00.[4]

In 1999, Bradshaw made her debut in the women's elite division at the New Zealand national triathlon championships, placing 11th,[5] but later sustained a stress fracture and was unable to attend the age-group world championships in Montreal.[6] In January 2000, she was third at the national championships, after taking a 20-second advantage into the run.[7] Bradshaw said that she was "starting to feel good at the right time after having a bad patch" in the lead up to the 2000 age-group world championships in Perth,[8] where she recorded a time of 2:17:58 in coming 17th in the women's 20–24 years division, after being in third place at the start of the final leg.[4][9] Her coach, Jane Sullivan, said that a niggling hip injury hindered Bradshaw during the final run.[9]

Road cycling

2001

After suffering a second stress fracture in her hips, Bradshaw switched from triathlon to cycling at the beginning of 2001, saying that her body did not handle running.[10][11] She impressed the national cycling selectors in a women's tour event in February 2001 and received a late call-up the following month into the New Zealand number two team for the New Zealand World Cup, the second round of the 2001 UCI Women's Road World Cup.[10] However, she did not finish the race.[1] The following month she won two cycling tours over successive weekends, the Tamahine Tour in Dunedin, and the Queenstown to Cromwell Easter cycling tour, defeating New Zealand representative Tammy Boyd in the later by 1 minute 20 seconds.[11] After the races, Bradshaw commented that there was still "a lot of work to do yet" if she were to claim a permanent place on the New Zealand cycling team.[11]

In the |New Zealand national women's road race championship, held around Inglewood in October 2001, Bradshaw placed fifth.[12]

2002

In January 2002, Bradshaw was the first woman to finish in the Lake Dunstan Challenge, won by Matthew Randall.[13] Bradshaw's time of 2:19:44 was under the previous race record of 2:22:00 set by Greg Henderson two years earlier.[13]

The following month, Bradshaw was named in the New Zealand road cycling team to compete in the first two rounds of the 2002 UCI Women's Road World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and the Tour de Snowy in Australia.[14] In the first of those events, the Australia World Cup raced over 103 kilometres from Cooma to Thredbo, she finished in 57th place.[15][16] In the Tour de Snowy, Bradshaw was 35th on general classification, with a best finish of 27th on stage 4 of the tour.[1] Four days later, in the New Zealand World Cup raced around Hamilton, she did not finish.[1]

Bradshaw competed in the United States in the 2002 Women's Challenge in southern Idaho in June, finishing 73rd on general classification.[1]

In July 2002, Bradshaw was a member of the Counties–Manukau team that won the 25-kilometre women's North Island team time trial at Rongotea, and four days later won the women's 50-kilometre road race at the David Black Memorial in Manawatū-Whanganui.[17]

2003

Bradshaw finished eighth in the 2003 New Zealand women's road race championship.[1]

2004

In February 2004, Bradshaw rode as part of the New Zealand 'B' team in the four-day Geelong Tour in Australia, finishing 49th on general classification.[1][18] She followed that up four days later with a 66th-place finish in the Australia World Cup raced in Geelong, the first leg of the 2004 UCI Women's Road World Cup.[1]

Bradshaw was a member of the eight-woman New Zealand squad that competed in the Giro d'Italia Femminile in July 2004;[19] she placed 69th on general classification, with a best individual stage result of 46th on the seventh stage from Pozzo d'Adda to Oggiono.[1] The same month, she was one of six New Zealand women on the six-day Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen, finishing 52nd overall.[1][20] Bradshaw rounded out her 2004 European campaign with a 49th placing in the Sparkassen Giro Bochum in Germany.[1]

After returning to New Zealand, Bradshaw achieved a seventh-place finish in the 25-kilometre national women's individual time-trial championship and was sixth in the national women's road race championship.[1] In the Tour de Femme raced near Nelson in late December, Bradshaw won stage 4 with some aggressive riding and was fourth overall on general classification for the tour and third in the contest for the sprint ace title.[21][22]

2005

Bradshaw began 2005 with a 10th placing in the Australian National Road Race Championships at Echunga in South Australia.[23]

Part of the New Zealand 'A' team–alongside Michelle Kiesanowski, Susie Wood, Johanna Buick, Michelle Hyland and Melissa Holt–for the first two rounds of the 2005 UCI Women's Road World Cup, Bradshaw placed 27th in the Australia World Cup and 23th in the New Zealand World Cup.[24]

Bradshaw then travelled to France to train with other New Zealand riders at BikeNZ's training centre at Limoux under the newly appointed road coach Jacques Landry.[24] Racing in the French Cup series in April and May, the New Zealand team, which included Bradshaw, won the teams' classification in two successive rounds.[25] In the 2005 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin, from 13 to 22 May, Bradshaw was 31st on general classification and 47th on points classification, while the New Zealand team was 13th overall.[1][26] In June, the New Zealand team was second on teams classification in the five-day Tour Cycliste Féminin de la Drôme, with Bradshaw 12th in the individual general classification.[27] The following month, Bradshaw was sixth on general classification at the Tour de Bretagne Féminin, with a best stage finish of seventh on the fourth and final stage of the race.[28]

In September, Bradshaw competed in the women's elite road race at the 2005 UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, finishing 70th.[1]

Back in New Zealand, Bradshaw was 14th in both the national road race and national time-trial championships in October, before representing New Zealand at the Oceania Road Cycling Championships, held in Whanganui in December, where she won a bronze medal in the women's elite road race.[1]

2006

In January 2005, Bradshaw competed in the Australian National Road Race Championships at Mount Torrens in South Australia, placing 24th.[29] She followed that up finishing 27th in the Geelong Tour.[1]

Bradshaw then competed in the opening two rounds of the 2006 UCI Women's Road World Cup, finishing 46th at Geelong and 17th in the New Zealand leg in Wellington.[1] Between the two World Cup rounds, she raced in the four-day Women's Tour of New Zealand, finishing 17th on general classification and achieving a 15th placing on the final stage, an individual time trial around the Miramar Peninsula.[1][30]

Im March, Bradshaw was one of six New Zealand representatives in the women's road race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Part of a five-woman breakaway on lap two of the nine-lap race, Bradshaw was in contention for a medal. On lap seven, she attacked but the eventual gold medallist, Australia's Natalie Bates counter-attacked and broke clear in a decisive move. Following team orders, Bradshaw then sat up and she and the remaining three riders in the leading group were caught by the peloton.[31] Bradshaw eventually finished 16th, one place ahead of Sarah Ulmer who had been regarded as New Zealand's best chance of a medal in the event.[32][33]

Bradshaw raced for Les Pruneaux d'Agen in the 2006 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin in May, finishing 25th on general classification, while her team was 11th overall.[1][34] She rode for Les Pruneaux d'Agen again in the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale at the end of June, finishing no worse than 11th on all stages of the tour, including a fifth-place finish in the opening stage, an individual time trial, and ranking 7th on general classification, 8th on points classification and 9th in the mountains classification.[1]

In September, Bradshaw placed 82nd in the women's elite road race at the 2006 UCI Road World Championships.[35]

2007

In 2007, Bradshaw finished 3rd overall at the Tour de Bretagne Féminin, as well as 3rd and 5th on individual stages.[1] At the 2006 UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart, she was involved in an early crash and did not finish.

2008

2009

2010

Bradshaw placed 70th at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships in Melbourne.

Major results

1999
2001
  • 7th, New Zealand National Time Trial Championships – time trial
  • 6th, New Zealand National Road Race Championships – road race
2003
  • 8th, New Zealand National Time Trial Championships – time trial
  • 8th, New Zealand National Road Race Championships – road race
2004
  • 3rd, stage 3, Tour Cycliste Féminin de la Drôme
  • 7th, New Zealand National Time Trial Championships – time trial
  • 6th, New Zealand National Road Race Championships – road race
2005
2006
  • 17th, Women's Tour of New Zealand – general classification
    • 9th, stage 1
    • 6th, stage 2
  • 7th, Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale – general classification
    • 5th, stage 1
    • 6th, stage 3
    • 7th, stage 4
    • 7th, stage 5
    • 9th, mountains classification
    • 8th, points classification
  • 9th, Tour de Bretagne Féminin – general classification
    • 6th, stage 1
2007
  • 7th, New Zealand National Time Trial Championships – time trial
  • 9th, New Zealand National Road Race Championships – road race
  • 10th, points classification, Women's Tour of New Zealand
  • 8th, stage 5, Tour of Prince Edward Island
  • 3rd, Tour de Bretagne Féminin – general classification
    • 3rd, stage 1
    • 5th, stage 5
    • 10th, Points classification
2008
  • 7th, New Zealand National Road Race Championships – road race
2009
  • 10th, New Zealand National Time Trial Championships – time trial
2010
  • 8th, New Zealand National Road Race Championships – road race

Grand Tour results

Race 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Grande Boucle Féminine — — 7th — 29th
Route de France Féminine Not held 27th DNF —
Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin — 31st 25th 19th 65th
Giro d'Italia Femminile 69th — — — —

Coaching and sports leadership

Bradshaw retired from professional cycling in 2010, and she has subsequently coached the St Cuthbert's College cycling team in Auckland.[36]

In 2024, Bradshaw was among a group of former New Zealand Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games competitors that graduated from the Wāhine Toa Leadership Programme, designed to develop female leadership in sport, run by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.[37]

Physiotherapy career

After graduating from Otago at the end of 1997, Bradshaw moved to Timaru, where she gained experience working with physiotherapist Paul Annear.[2] In 1999, she worked with the South Canterbury Colts rugby union team, and in September that year she was the physiotherapist for the New Zealand junior cycling team during the Tour de Hokkaido in Japan.[6] She joined Ponsonby Physiotherapy in Auckland while still actively competing as a road cyclist, and later became an owner of the practice.[38]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Toni Bradshaw at ProCyclingStats
  2. ^ a b c McCord, Pat (17 April 1998). "Triathlon trail led to Timaru". Timaru Herald. p. 14. ProQuest 313922155.
  3. ^ "Graduate search". University of Otago. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c "Toni Bradshaw". World Triathlon. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  5. ^ "SC triathletes shine at nationals". Timaru Herald. 6 January 1999. ProQuest 313940474.
  6. ^ a b "Cycling tour job for Bradshaw". Timaru Herald. 4 September 1999. p. 40. ProQuest 313945530.
  7. ^ Gray, Kent (4 January 2000). "Stretch grabs unlikely win". Timaru Herald. p. 19. ProQuest 315078787.
  8. ^ Clearwater, Anthony (28 April 2000). "SC triathletes ready to hurt for NZ; Pair are taking on the world in Perth". Timaru Herald. p. 14. ProQuest 313955634.
  9. ^ a b "Bradshaw 'can only improve'". Timaru Herald. 2 May 2000. p. 14. ProQuest 313955441.
  10. ^ a b "Bradshaw in big time". Timaru Herald. 17 March 2001. p. 38. ProQuest 313959358.
  11. ^ a b c "Bradshaw delighted after double success". Timaru Herald. 18 April 2001. p. 16. ProQuest 313961683.
  12. ^ "Cycling: Holt wins road title". The New Zealand Herald. 21 October 2001. Retrieved 17 February 2001.
  13. ^ a b Gillies, Many (21 January 2002). "Randall breaks cycling record". Southland Times. ProQuest 330608695.
  14. ^ "Cycle teams named". Waikato Times. 23 February 2002. p. 14. ProQuest 313687103.
  15. ^ "Sprinting depth underlined". The Dominion. 1 March 2002. p. 23. ProQuest 315410350.
  16. ^ "Kiwis crack top 10 in Cup opener". Waikato Times. 4 March 2002. p. 14. ProQuest 313688386.
  17. ^ Knowler, Richard (1 August 2002). "Counties cycling team too strong". Evening Standard. p. 12. ProQuest 314254057.
  18. ^ "Cycling: Pedalling hard for Athens". The New Zealand Herald. 19 February 2004. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  19. ^ Marshall, Jane (3 July 2004). "Kiesanowski to ride in Giro event". The Press. p. 8 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  20. ^ Leggatt, David (22 July 2004). "Cycling: Shifting into top gear". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  21. ^ "Buick heads towards third title". Nelson Mail. 30 December 2004. p. 20 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  22. ^ West, Averil (31 December 2004). "Hill climb sorts out tour riders". Nelson Mail. p. 18 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  23. ^ Jones, Jeff. "Graham leads Queensland trifecta". CyclingNews.com. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  24. ^ a b Gray, Kent (8 March 2005). "Kiwis start doing it Aussie-style". Dominion Post. p. 14. ProQuest 338156733.
  25. ^ Marshall, Jane (6 May 2005). "Kiwi women riders show power in French Cup". The Press. p. 12. ProQuest 314742263.
  26. ^ "21st Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  27. ^ "Italian hitout for cyclists". The Press. 25 June 2005. p. 10. ProQuest 314693181.
  28. ^ "Toni Bradshaw". FirstCycling. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  29. ^ Clarke, Les. "Bates' glory as Carrigan bridesmaid again". CyclingNews.com. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  30. ^ "Sarah just too super". Dominion Post. 4 March 2006. p. 4 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  31. ^ "Henderson 6th, Ulmer 17th as horsepower fails Kiwi cyclists". The Press. 27 March 2006 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  32. ^ "Results". The Press. 27 March 2006. p. 4 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  33. ^ "Our Commonwealth Games contenders". The New Zealand Herald. 10 March 2006 – via The Knowledge Basket.
  34. ^ "22nd Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  35. ^ Marshall, Jane (25 September 2006). "NZ team fails at champs". The Press. ProQuest 314777369.
  36. ^ "About us". Steel Springs. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  37. ^ "Wāhine Toa helps third intake of female athletes upskill in sport leadership". Scoop Independent News. 6 May 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  38. ^ "Toni Strong". Ponsonby Physiotherapy. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.