Two new national records fell on the opening night of racing at the 2013 Southland Track Championships in Invercargill tonight.
Pegasus rider Olivia Podmore lowered the national mark in the Under 17 Girls 500m Time Trial with her 37.250, beating the previous fastest time set by Steph McKenzie riding for Auckland in 2008. Erin Criglington, like the fine wine she is, just keeps getting faster as she lowered her Masters 1 Women’s Time Trial record by over two tenths of a second with 38.093.
Prior to the Championships Hamish Beadle, Josh Carpenter, Hayden Strong and Tom Sexton all lined up to have one final tilt at one of the longest standing track records – Pieter Bulling’s 2007 Under 15 Time Trial record. Beadle got the closest getting within 0.6 seconds of the mark but ultimately the record lives to fight another day. Tom Beadle also had a crack at the Flying 200 metre Under 19 record, just missing Zac Williams’ Junior Worlds time of 10.588 by 0.15 seconds.
Over 90 riders contested time trials which made for a busy night for our starter gate operators. Madeleine Gough claimed gold in the Under 15 girls with 44.239, beating out Kate Ward and Brooke Hargest while Kain Bowles began a very impressive night’s racing with gold by 2.5 seconds in the Under 15 Boys. His 38.026 won him the Southland title over Mitchell Morris and Brayden Holland who earned their first Southland medals.
After Podmore’s blistering performance in the Under 17 Girls, the Southlander’s contested the medals with Emma Cumming bouncing back from sickness this week to claim the victory in 40.377 from Makayla Smith and Bronwyn Graham. Brayden Stephens held off a super-competitive Under 17 Boys field to claim the 2013 Southland title in 36.894 with Hamish Beadle in second and Joshua Carpenter claiming bronze.
Jacqui Dearlove added yet another Southland title to her long list in the Master 2 Women with 41.116 getting her the win over Sam Kopae and Marie Muhl, while Criglington’s national record earned her gold from Nicola Stevens and Cherie Champion, competing in her first Southland Champs earning an impressive bronze medal.
Ever-green Peter Grandiek took out the Master 3 Men Time Trial in 51.433 while Roger Nicholas defended his Masters 2 Southland title in 37.263 from Ant Leathart and Jerard Stock. Canterbury’s Andrew Thompson recorded the fastest overall time of 36.929.
The Under 19 Women’s title went to Laura Heywood, fresh from her medal-winning deeds at the Oceania Championships in Adelaide with 39.403 with Sophie McMurdo and Libby Bayne taking home the other medals and Aimee Burns continued her fine recent form in the Elite Women to beat out Otago’s Elyse Fraser and Kirstie James in 39.439.
The Masters 1 Men’s Time Trial over 750 metres was taken out by Michael White in 52.190 with Derek Tan and another debutant in Brett Roulston earning the minor medals.
The prestigious MacLean Cup will live at the Beadle house for 2013 after Tom claimed a popular victory in the Open Men’s Kilo. His 1:04.750 was over a second faster than the leading U19 rider Jeremy Presbury who took the U19 title and second overall. Josh Haggerty followed his Oceania form with a solid 1:06.201, good enough for third overall.
The night concluded with scratch races across all grades. Madeleine Gough made it two from two with victory over 1000 metres in the Under 15 Girls. Pegasus’ Kate Ward was second with Brooke Hargest third overall and second Southlanders, claiming silver. Kain Bowles completed another double beating Corbin Strong and Samuel Miller home in the Under 15 Boys while Olivia Podmore also kept her unbeaten record intact, winning the U17 Girls scratch race from Emma Cumming and Makayla Smith.
The Under 17 boys’ race was all action from the start with Cycling Timaru’s Jack Ford splitting the race to bits early. He had to be content with second behind Hayden Strong with Hamish Beadle taking silver and bronze, taking third and fourth overall.
Jerard Stock marked his first night as a Masters 2 rider with victory in the 5km Scratch race over Pegasus’ Wayne Eyre with Ant Leathart and Grant Toomey taking the Southland silver and bronze medals. The Masters 1 race was claimed by Derek Tan over Andrew Lienert and Gerald Paterson, with Micahel White suffering an unfortunate mechanical just as the race’s final sprint was starting.
The two Elite and Under 19 races which ended the Friday programme were fitting finales. Aimee Burns took her second win of the evening over leading Under 19 Laura Heywood. Laura Fairweather and Jennifer Muhl finished third and fourth respectively, to take home the Elite and Under 19 silver medals respectively.
The frenetic pace in the Men’s race proved too hot for most. Just six of the 16 starters were able to get to the 40th lap and first across the line was Pieter Bulling from Patrick Jones (Cycling Otago) and Joshua Haggerty – the Under 19 champion.
Racing continues Saturday and Sunday from 10am.
Results
Friday Results | Saturday Results