Records Fall at Wellington Track Cycling Championships

Records Fall at Wellington Track Cycling Championships

Records tumbled over the weekend as fine weather helped Wellington's cyclists produce extremely quick times at the region's track cycling championships. At the Wellington Junior Championships on February 15, George Jackson (Island Bay) shaved 0.3seconds from his previous record for the under 15 500m time trial with a new time of 39.3sec. Jordan Lewis (Belmont) smashed the 2000m under 17 pursuit with 2min 39.96sec, breaking the 1000m best time along the way.

Holly Blakely (Seatoun) came within a fraction of beating the under 17 girl's 2000m pursuit record but gave it another shot the next day and scraped under the previous fastest time by 0.1sec with 2min 57.34sec. Blakely won all her category's events, including the 500m time trial, points race and sprint, beating Martine Barnes (Karori) to silver each time. Barnes came very close to upsetting Blakely's clean sweep by forcing final ride-off in the best-of-three gold medal match sprints.

Amelia Taylor (Thorndon) edged May Hodgkinson (Kandallah) in the under 13 girls events, recording a highly respectable 52.545sec 500m time trial, while Prajna Baskar (Whitby) scooped all under 15 girls titles. Boston Bright (Wadestown) was primary victor in the under 13 boys, pipping Ben Leslie for the Derby, time trial and points race championships.

George Jackson's impressive legspeed helped him to the under 15 515m derby and points race championships as well as the 500m time trial. Current Burkes Cycles Speed League under 15 category leader Louis Hodgkinson (Kandallah) picked up three silvers while Liam Cooper grabbed bronze in the time trial.

Jordan Lewis came close to more under 17 records on his way to two more under 17 wins, recording 37.93sec in the 500m time trial just a few fractions of a second behind Louis Higgison's 37.15sec set in 2013, as well as in the sprint qualifying where he clocked 12.64sec for the flying start 200m. He also won the under 17 points race, ahead of Sam Tillotson (Miramar) and Oliver Wood (Waikanae).

More quick times at Burkes Cycles Speed League round 11 Not to be outdone by their younger counterparts, Wellington's under 19s and masters riders also broke track records on Sunday February 16 during round 11 of the Burkes Cycles Speed League. Louis Higgison (Petone) won the under 19 3000m pursuit in a new category best time of 3min 59.8sec while Nick Warren (Miramar) beat his own masters 35+ time over the same distance with 3min 57.5sec.

Ari Evans (Melrose), Zac Blakely (Seatoun) and Higgison blitzed the under 19 1000m men's team sprint with a terrific 1min 13.78sec. Their effort brought the total number of records broken in 2014 to nine, adding to the two set by Ele Pepperell and Chris Taylor last week in their categories for the flying start 200m.

Higgison went on to win the under 19 keirin ahead of Jon Barnes (Karori) and Zac Blakely, and added to his tally with victory in the 9km points race. Warren won the masters keirin in a near blanket finish across the line, overhauling Regan Bang in the last few metres and just holding off a flying Grant Perry (Miramar). Perry's high top-end speed helped him to his first Wellington masters championship in the points race.

Max Uivel (Melrose) got the jump in the open men's keirin over Ross O'Brian and held the lead until the finish to add to his silver medal from the open sprint one week prior. Ele Pepperell (Ngaio) won the women's keirin, leading it out and holding off a strong challenge from Sarah Barclay (Wilton) with Holly Blakely in third. Pepperell also won an exhausting 8km points race, with Blakely in silver and Barclay taking bronze.

Meanwhile in the Burkes Cycles Speed League sprinters scratch races, Zac Blakely won the A category race ahead of Jon Barnes and Ross O'Brian won his first race with victory in B category. David Bernard won the C category race while Ele Pepperell the women's. Blakely and Pepperell both went on to win The Lanes Sprint Ace ride-offs.

The top of the table in the Lemond Fitness Power Play now looks very crowded after Jordan Lewis recorded a maximum power to weight ratio of 18.2 Watts/kg to tie with George Jackson. Grant Perry and Louis Higgison are tied for third with 17.9 Watts/kg.

George Jackson took the junior keirin also riding hard to claim the win in the junior handicap over Sam Tillotson and Louis Hodgkinson with Liam Cooper fourth.

The Burkes Cycles Speed League continues next week, Sunday February 23, and incorporates the Wellington time trial and scratch race championships.

ENDS

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