Cyclists struggle up the Kemmelberg hill, where New Zealand soldiers gave their lives during World War I.

The little known New Zealand Cycling Corp that took part in World War I will be remembered from now on in a special way.

The winner of the New Zealand Under-23 road cycling championship each January will be presented with a unique trophy, a cobble from the Kemmelberg hill in Belgium.

It's an iconic cobbled climb in the Gent-Wevelgem Spring Classic cycle race and a number of other races, but it's also where where there were some of the most ferocious battles in the First World War.

Liz Southey Charles Southey, who was in the NZ Cycling Corp from 1916-1919.

At a ceremony up the cobbled climb that's known mostly these days for testing to the limits the world's top cyclists, a ceremony took place on Friday to remove one of the cobbles, which was attended by New Zealand's ambassador to Belgium, Greg Andrew, Dirk Van Hove from Cycling NZ, the local mayor and Elizabeth Southey, the daughter of Charles Southey, who was in the NZ Cycling Corp from 1916-1919.

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It will be brought to New Zealand and handed out each January during the national road cycling championships to the country's best young rider.

Royal NZ Returned and Services' Inspection of the New Zealand Cyclist Battalion by Prime Minister William Massey and Deputy Prime Minister Joseph Ward. Photographed 3 July 1918 in France by Henry Armytage Sanders.

The initiative was the work of Roger Dungan, a New Zealand diplomat at the embassy in Paris.

As a keen cyclist he was fascinated by the story of a cycling corp, set up because the best way to get across the dreadful, bomb crater riddled terrain in northern France and Belgium was by bike.

"I work in Paris at the New Zealand Embassy and the World War I stuff isn't part of my overall job," Duncan said.

Royal NZ Returned and Services' The New Zealand Cyclist Battalion will be remembered thanks to a cobble on a hill in Belgium.

"But the New Zealand government is committed to commemorate the sacrifices made in the First World War, during the centenary period and as a keen cyclist I was thinking about what I could do to be a part of that.

"I was wondering if there was anything bike related and came across this New Zealand Cycling Corp and that sparked a chain of things.

"We wanted to create a living memorial to remember this, I knew cyclists back home would be keen on it and it cements the links between New Zealand and this part of Belgium and France."

The trophy for winning the Paris Roubaix race, one of the monuments of road cycling, is a cobble and this follows that tradition.

"Cobblestones define racing in this part of the world and New Zealand cyclists fought and died on this road, up the Kemmelberg.

"So I got in touch with the race organisers of the Gent Wevelgem and they were extremely committed to this."

They arrived at the Western Front in 1916. Initially, the New Zealand Cycling Corp tried have rifles mounted on their bikes, but it became apparent once in Europe that this wouldn't work, so they performed a similar function to horse mounted riflemen and conducted scouting and reconnaissance work, but at times went into the trenches also.

Heavy losses were suffered at the offensives in Messines and Kemmelberg, Passchendaele and Kemmelberg and in September 1918 they were renamed the New Zealand Cyclist Battalion.

Over time their story has been forgotten, but thanks to this new trophy, the sacrifices they made will once again be remembered.

"This is a very special project that means so much to the people of Belgium and New Zealand," Cycling NZ CEO Andrew Matheson said.

"The New Zealand Cyclist Corp played a significant role in the Great War and started a close relationship between the people of New Zealand and Belgium."