Ussher Leaves Nike-Powerblast
Jacqueline Windh / 05.01.2007
What are the reasons for your decision to leave Nike-Powerblast?
There were quite a number of reasons; one being that I have always wanted to form my own team at some stage, and I felt that it was a challenge I was now ready for. I think I\'ll have motivation to keep racing full-time for another 2 to 3 seasons, and that is one of the things I had left to tick off on my list before I do lose the motivation. It also will give me the chance to help up-and-coming NZ athletes to break into racing on the international scene, and share some of the things I\'ve learnt from racing with such great teams.
With Nike we were very successful, but I didn\'t really feel there was so much of a challenge in the racing - it was almost expected that we would win each race. Along the same lines, I felt the sport needed more competition at the top level. It is better for everyone to have increased competition, and I imagine that also creates more media interest, which has to be good for the sport.
There was also the fact that the races I was able to do were a little bit subject to one of the main guys being happy to sit a race out. Not to be able to race in the top team for Primal Quest, where the biggest payday was, was hard - but when the initial team is so competitive it would probably always have been an issue.
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