A crew from three Southland schools - Southland Girls' High, Southland Boys' High and James Hargest College travelled up to South Island Secondary School Road Champs, in Christchurch on Friday and it was a trip well worth the effort with some great results.
With everyone leaving around the same time, the race began as to who could get there first but Hargest had a downfall as they were too tempted and had to stop at the 'Regina' factory in Omaru stoking up on sugary treats, so Girls' High won that amazing race.
The next morning started with Individual Time Trials around Ruapuna Raceway. Southland schools ended up with a 3rd in the under 14 boys to Hunter Gough, 1st in the under 15 boys to Hamish Keast (otherwise known as 'Beast'), a 3rd in the under 16 boys to Sam Miller, 3rd in the under 17 boys to Brayden Stephens and 2nd in open men to Nick Kergozou.
After a short break and a bit to eat, afternoon team racing was up and Hargest took out 2nd in the open team time trial, with their team consisting of Beast, Brayden, Tom Sexton and Anton O'Connell.
It was then back to the motel for a crazy night on the town hitting Froyo and having not so much of an early night trying to watch the first stage of the Tour De France. Next morning was road racing at Ruapuna and the south was able to end the weekend on a high with Hunter Gough 3rd in the under 14 boys, 1st and 3rd in under 15 boys to Hamish Keast and 3rd to Corbin Strong, 2nds in the under 17 girls and boys to Emma Cumming and Brayden Stephens and - to finish the racing on a high - 1st and 2nd in the under 20 boys to Nick Kergozou and a 2nd to Anton O'Connell.
After that the last race was the one home with Boys' High winning that one at a late 12 o'clock and straight to bed for all of us. Awesome thanks to Waino, Sid, Al Strong, Jo, The Pedal, Sharalyn and Gerald for your help! Awesome weekend away for the junior cycling crew and everyones racing was awesome!
Report courtesy of Emma Cumming
