04/03/2011 - Another day day, another National Record. NZ records were threatened and beaten this morning in qualifying for the Under 19 and Masters Individual Pursuits.
In the Women's Under 19 qualifying, Auckland's Georgina Wilson lowered the national mark to 2'30.950 before team mate Georgia Williams took another second and a half off that mark to set up a mouth-watering final tonight. The new National Record is 2'29.420.
Omnium leader Sophie Williamson finished fifth overall and third of the Omnium riders to maintain her lead at the top of the standings after four of the six events.
The Under 19 Men saw Canterbury's Alex Frame set the top mark with 3'23.558 - just three seconds outside Mike Vink's two year old record. He will ride against fellow Cantabrian Dylan Kennett who rode the final heat in 3'24.533. Fraser Gough and Scott Creighton will ride for bronze.
Kennett's ride consolidated his place at the top of the Omnium standings on 6 points, 11 ahead of his nearest rivals, Tom Beadle and Fraser Gough.
The Masters Women also lowered their National records in the Individual Pursuit. In Category 2 Jacqui Dearlove took 1.8 seconds of her winning time last year with 2'40.063 and will ride Marie Muhl in tonight's final while Sam Kopae will take on Glenda Bruce for bronze. Category 1 saw Erin Criglington take 2 seconds off her previous best and will ride Tamara Ross for gold.
The finalists for the Under 15 Girls Points Race Final were found; Olivia Podmore, Lydia Rippon, Bronwyn Graham, Eden Ronald, Jaymie King, Mikayla Smith, Ione Johnson, Amanda Rowe, Holly White and Caitlin Mercer.
Qualifiers were also found in the Under 15 Boys Points Race. Successfully negotiating the first round were Corbin Mason-Smith, Hayden Strong, Connell Leahy, Marcus Jones, Jonathan Barnes, Max Jones, Campbell Stewart, Liam Haggerty, Sam Dobbs, Hamish Beadle, Sam Cullimore and Joshua Smith.
For the first time Under 17 Girls featured in a Team Sprint competition. The West Coast North Island duo of Kate Stewart and Ruby Perry set the fastest time of 39.287 and will take on Auckland's Devon Hiley and Lauren Hobson in tonight's final. Another Auckland combination of Samantha Croft and Isabella Williams will face Southland's Jen Muhl and Libby Bayne in the ride for bronze.
The Under 17 Boys Sprint saw Tasman qualify fastest with 50.888 and they will face Mid South Canterbury for gold. With Southland relegated for an early change, Auckland will face Canterbury for gold.
The final event of the morning session (which stretched well into the afternoon) saw Alex Frame, Pieter Bulling, Paddy Daly and Hardy qualify to join the Omnium riders in tonight's Under 19 Men's Scratch Race final.
Full results can be found here.
This evening's session begins at 6.30 and features all of the above finals along with the Men Masters Points races and the Under 19 Women's Scratch Final.