Local cyclists made the most of the opportunity to race on home turf, collecting titles and trophies galore at the North Island and South Island School Road Championships and the North Island School Track Championships.

Over 230 riders took part in the South Island Road event, organised by Cycling Canterbury Schools at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch, competing in individual time trial, team time trial and road race events. The North Island Road event, organised by Red Events at Lake Karapiro, attracted over 600 riders contesting a team time trial, road race and criterium. Following on from that, the North Island Track event, presented by the Avanti Shop and organised by Cycling New Zealand, was held at Cambridge’s Avantidrome, attracting entries from Kaitaia to Wellington to contest individual and team titles. 

Almost 300 intermediate and secondary schools affiliate to the Cycling New Zealand Schools programme and in 2018, over 3,570 of students took part in 11 events across cycling codes.

South Island Road

Christchurch Boys' High School enjoyed a successful outing, taking the Hayden Godfrey Challenge Cup for top school. Although collecting just one individual title, courtesy of Josh Rivett in the under-20 individual time trial, it was in the team events where they excelled, besting Timaru Boys' High for the under-20 title and Cobham Intermediate in the under-14 race. They placed second behind James Hargest in the under-16 event.

There were some outstanding individual performances throughout the weekend, including those from Subway Upper South Performance Hub riders, Henrietta Christie (Lincoln High), Jenna Borthwick (St Margarets) and Amelia Sykes (Avonside Girls) who won both the road race and individual time trial in their age grade.

Christie’s victories were decided in vastly differing circumstances, with a convincing 1min 42 second win in the road race, and a split-second win over SIT Southern Hub’s Emily Paterson (James Hargest) in the time trial.

This double individual success was also achieved by Mountainview High’s James Corry, Roncalli’s Jaxson Whyte, Rolleston College’s Nick Rush, Bluestone School’s Noah Hollamby and the under-13 pairing of Olli Aitken (Medbury) and Alice Barnes (Cust Area School). This is the second year in a row that Whyte has claimed the double.
 
North Island Road

Despite not securing any individual or team titles, Auckland’s Baradene College stormed away with the ‘Top Girls School’ award, amassing 207 points across road race, criterium and team events. It was a much tighter affair in the boys competition, with Cambridge High School edging St Peters Cambridge by a handful of points.

Auckland Performance Hub riders Ella Wyllie (Epsom Girls) and Prudence Fowler (Auckland Diocesan) were able to repeat their 2018 feats, taking the under-20 and under-17 girls titles from competitive fields in both races.

Fowler joined Ally Gothard (Epsom Girls), Blake Bailey (Cambridge High), Maui Morrison (Cambridge High), Ruby Spring (St Kentigerns), Mackenzie Barnett (Cambridge High), Caoillinn Gray (Cambridge Middle School) and Joshua Rowe (Cambridge Middle School) in collecting both road race and criterium titles for their age group.

In the team time trial, Auckland Grammar headed home Palmerston North Boys High School in the under-20 boys race, while Epsom Girls powered home 1m 16s ahead of second placed Baradene in the girls edition.

It was the same story in the under-16 girls with Epsom too strong for Baradene, while Cambridge High School got the better of Takapuna Grammar in the boys race.

In the intermediate racing, Palmerston North Intermediate took home the girls title and Cambridge Middle School the boys.

North Island Track

After a busy weekend at North Island Roads, 165 riders descended on the Avantidrome to compete for individual and team titles at the North Island Track Championships.

Local schools St Peters Cambridge and Cambridge High School were again locked in a ding-dong battle for the coveted ‘Top School’ awards, with Cambridge High emerging victorious in both boys and girls racing.

The Waipa Home of Champions Outstanding Rider trophies went to Grassroots Trust Waikato BoP Hub riders. Mya Anderson (Cambridge High), took home maximum points in the under-20 girls individual events and a win in the team sprint, while Hamish Coltman (St Peters Cambridge) collected wins in the under-17 boys keirin, points race and team pursuit.

Other stars to emerge included Cambridge High’s Gray sisters, Seana and Caoillinn who took out the under-15 and under-13 titles, and Jaxson Russell who took out the under-15 boys individual, team pursuit and team sprint titles.

Full results are available to view on the Cycling New Zealand Schools website at www.schoolscycling.nz.

The South Island Track Championships will be held in October in conjunction with the National Schools Track Championships at SIT Zero Fees Velodrome in Invercargill.

​Prudence Fowler has established herself as one of the country’s leading age-group track and road cyclists.

This past Friday and Saturday, Prudence defended both her U17 time trial and road race titles at the Age Group Road National Championships in Pleasant Point, near Timaru.

But not without a taking a tumble when riding out in front on route to her 2-minute victory in the road race.
“I actually came off about 3km before the finish,” said the year 12 Diocesan School for Girls rider who is in her second year competing in the U17 age group.

“I had my head down and I was just really focusing and giving it everything because all I was thinking about was getting to the finish and I clipped the wheel of a rider finishing the masters race in front of me. It was just minor, but I had to get up and put my chain back on and keep going. Luckily I only lost about 30 seconds!”

But this was only a matter of weeks after another crash in the lead-up to the Age Group Track Nationals in Cambridge in early March that could have been much more serious.

“I was knocked off my bike by a car a week before the track nationals. A car pulled out in front of me and went over the bonnet.”

She was coming down a hill on a main road at an estimated 40kph, the car was coming out of a side street and cyclist and car collided.

“Thankfully I only broke my finger. I was a bit bashed up everywhere else but overall I was otherwise alright and I was able to compete in Cambridge.”

How did the finger injury affect her Track Nationals performance?

She finished second in the U17 Individual Pursuit and she won the U17 Points Race.

“But I came off my bike again in the 500m time trial – I was coming out of the gates to start and I put my foot out and because my finger was broken I wasn’t really gripping my bike well and I couldn’t save it and I went for a slide down the track.”
​
Last week she was selected in the New Zealand U19 team to compete at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships at Invercargill in October. 

​At this past weekend’s National Age Group Road National Championships she won both the female U17 races comfortably.

The event started on Friday with a 15km time trial on an out and back course.

“It was a pretty tough course because it was up hill and also into a headwind on the way out and then downhill and a tailwind on the way back.”

She won the time trial by 26 seconds to second placed Jenna Borthwick (St Margaret’s College, Christchurch), with Lucy Buckeridge (Takapuna Grammar School) third.

The road race on Saturday was a three-lap course totalling 63km, and Prudence made her move on the second lap – which wasn’t really part of the plan.

“The second hill was the steepest on the course and I came across the top of that hill and created a gap on the group of us riding together. I put the hammer down and created a bit of distance between us.  There was still almost 30km to go so I just kept going thinking they will get me at some point but I kept going and I ended up riding the rest of that lap and the whole of the third lap by myself.”

Did Prudence know what gap she had opened up?

“At the start of the third lap the time car came past me and told me the difference was 49s. From there I decided to really put the hammer down.

Despite her mishap near the end she won comfortably. Charlotte Spurway (Rangi Ruru Girls’ School) was out on her own in finishing second, with Lucy Buckeridge third and Jenna Borthwick fourth.

Prudence, who is coached by 2008 Olympic Games men’s individual pursuit silver medallist Hayden Roulston, now has a short rest before setting her sights on a busy remainder of the year.

The schools cycling season kicks in shortly. North Island Track and Road Schools Championships are together in Cambridge in July and the Northern and Southern schools tours are early September and then the Schools Nationals are in late September in the Manawatu.
​
Prudence used to compete to a high level in other sports, namely swimming, triathlon, water polo and rowing, but now her focus is just on cycling where the future is promising.

 Right: Finn Fisher-Black in action at the 2018 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships.

A 12-strong team has been selected to represent New Zealand at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Germany.

The team, with six females and six males – all endurance riders – will contest the five-day championships on 14-18 August to be staged in Frankfurt an der Oder on the border of eastern Germany and Poland.

Five riders will return from the team that picked up gold and silver medals in the team pursuit last year in Switzerland.

Leading the way will be the women’s team pursuit which will be able to draw on three riders from the quartet that won the silver medal in Switzerland in Samantha Donnelly (Christchurch), McKenzie Milne (Hamilton) and Ally Wollaston (Cambridge).

Also back are Nelson’s Finn Fisher-Black, part of the gold medal winning team pursuit and current individual pursuit world record holder, and Taupo’s Kiaan Watts, who won his qualifying scratch race last year.

Many of the first timers have earned their selection on the back of some outstanding form in the 2019 Vantage Elite and U19 National Championships held in Cambridge in February.

Southland’s Emily Paterson and Christchurch’s Laurence Pithie won 13 medals between them, five of them gold, while Conor Shearing (Southland) won the time trial and keirin. The Hamilton pair of Eva Parkinson and Oliva King picked up four medals each; Keegan Hornblow (Nelson) medalled in the scratch race and individual pursuit, the latter behind teammates Fisher-Black and Pithie; and Lachlan Dickson (Auckland) won the silver behind Watts in the scratch race.

“Overall we have a strong group returning from last year who will be key leaders for the first-year juniors coming into this environment,” said Cycling New Zealand’s Graeme Hunn.

“Both team pursuits have the potential to be medal contenders and obviously with the likes Finn Fisher-Black as a current world record holder, and Ally Wollaston who won five titles at the recent national championships, we will have some outstanding individuals as well.”

Hunn said while the development of endurance riders is encouraging, more work has to go in to develop young sprinters.

“We just did not have sprinters up to the standard to be considered for selection but we will be taking sprinters to the Oceania Championships and working both with our Subway Performance Hub coaches and our national sprint coach to focus on bringing through more sprinters.

“It may also be that we look at other types of athletes to consider as potential track cycling sprinters.”

New Zealand has a strong pedigree of success at the junior world championships, winning 70 per cent of their 79 medals won since 1976 in the last nine years.

Cycling New Zealand’s Subway Performance Hub programme is a key part in the development of junior cyclists with 10 of the 12 riders selected for the world championships currently part of the Hub network either from the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Hub, Grassroots Trust Waikato BOP Hub, Upper South Hub or SIT Southern Hub network.
 
The team is:

Females: Samantha Donnelly (Christchurch), Olivia King (Hamilton), McKenzie Milne (Hamilton), Eva Parkinson (Hamilton), Emily Paterson (Invercargill), Ally Wollaston (Hamilton).

Males: Lachlan Dickson (Auckland), Finn Fisher-Black (Nelson), Keegan Hornblow (Nelson), Laurence Pithie (Christchurch), Conor Shearing (Invercargill), Kiaan Watts (Taupo).

Head Coach: Tim Carswell.

Jenna Borthwick (St Margaret’s College) and Jack Carswell (St Peter’s, Cambridge) have ensured their week at the Vantage Age Group Track Championships was one to remember, picking up a further five national under 17 titles between them on the final day of competition in Cambridge.
 
Around 220 riders from around the country assembled at the Avantidrome to contest youth and masters age group titles over four days of competition, ending Sunday.
 
Canterbury 16-year-old Borthwick topped off an incredible competition by securing a further three titles on the final day, adding to the three won earlier in the week.
 
She and fellow Cantabrians Mikaela Grant, Charlotte Spurway and Amelia Sykes went into the Under-17 team pursuit final as underdogs, three and a half seconds slower in qualifying than the quartet from Southland.
 
In one of the races of the evening, Southland led the charge through the 1000m and 2000m marks, but the gritty Cantabrians produced a stunning final 1000m that saw them sneak past Southland by 0.75 seconds, an astonishing 7.4 seconds faster than their qualifying time.
 
Borthwick and Sykes then paired up in the team sprint, setting a new national record of 36.947s in qualifying, then going on to win gold in the evening session.
 
In her final outing of the competition, Borthwick was joined by Spurway in the Madison where the pairing worked in tandem to gain a lap on the field and secure maximum sprint points to blow away the competition.
 
“It was great to ride and race with my Canterbury teammates. I loved the team events, especially the Madison, and it’s been a really successful nationals for me,” said Borthwick.
 
Waikato-Bay of Plenty’s Jack Carswell also had a fantastic final day, picking up a new national record in the team sprint with Hamish Coltman and Zakk Patterson, before teaming up again with Patterson to take control in the under-17 Madison. The Waikato Bay of Plenty duo were in the mix for the entire 10km race, but took control at the halfway point by gaining a lap and going on to take maximum points in the final two sprints to hold off the Canterbury pairing.
 
In the under-15 grade, Seana Gray picked up gold in the points race, and teamed up with Mackenzie Barnett in the team sprint to make it a clean sweep of all under 15 girls events this week. It was an all Waikato Bay of Plenty affair in the under 15 boys grade as well with the pairing of Hamish Banks and Maui Morrison taking gold in the team sprint, before Banks went on to win the points race.
 
Carswell, Banks and Gray’s winning ways helped the Waikato Bay of Plenty Centre to top of the points standings, with the centre awarded the combined points shield for elite and age group track cycling.
 
Earlier, nine New Zealand and two Championship records fell on day one of the event.
​
Jenna Borthwick and Jack Carswell set the pace early on day one, breaking New Zealand records in the U17 2000m Individual Pursuit. In qualifying, Borthwick bettered the previous mark set by current Junior World Team Pursuit silver medallist McKenzie Milne, while Carswell sneaked past Laurence Pithie’s record by 0.147 seconds. Borthwick and Carswell both lowered their morning times to win gold in the evening finals, putting their fellow riders on notice for the rest of the week’s competition.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all, it was pretty amazing,” Borthwick said. “As a sprinter, this wasn’t an event I was targeting, I thought I’d just have a go and see how I went.”

Borthwick now holds a rare double: the under 17 flying 200m record and the 2000m individual pursuit, a feat which she describes as overwhelming, but one that makes her “pretty happy”.

Carswell went into the final looking to ride more consistently than he had in the morning.

“I was definitely hoping to get near the New Zealand record today as I put a lot of training in during the past few months. I didn’t stick to my schedule in the first race and that showed in my time, but I did a bit better in the final and it definitely worked out how I hoped it would, so I’m really happy.”

Carswell shook off being pipped for a podium finish in the scratch race to take two gold medals on the third day.

rode a smart points race, earning maximum points from three of four sprints, to hold off a fast finishing Kaio Lart for his third national title after collecting his second in the team pursuit as part of the Waikato Bay of Plenty White team earlier in the session.

The team of Carswell, Hamish Coltman, Matthew Davis, Zakk Patterson and Jaxson Russell threatened the national record but ultimately fell short, posting at time of 2:23.531 after overlapping the team from Southland. 
 
In the under 17 girls racing, Canterbury’s Jenna Borthwick was again a stand out, lowering her own national record, clocking 11.932, the first time an under 17 female has broken the 12 second mark. Borthwick showed her class to win match sprints from both in front and behind, her complete dominance and marking her as one to watch.
 
Prudence Fowler (Waikato BOP) and Kaio Lart (Tasman) took the other two under 17 titles on day three, in the points race and 500m time trial respectively.
 
Fowler was part of a three-women breakaway with Jessica Spencer (Southland) and Charlotte Spurway (Canterbury) that formed a third of the way into the race and stayed until the end, with Fowler producing a sublime 100m effort, coming around the outside to best her opponents for the national title.
 
Lart was impressive in the 500m time trial, just missing out on the national record set in 2012 by Quinn Karwowski by 0.038 seconds. This is his second national title this week.

Jack Overweel (West Coast NI) and Seana Gray (Waikato BOP) were the pick of the under 15 riders, showcasing outstanding sprinting ability to take the boys and girls derby races. Gray has had an impressive week so far, already taking gold in the 500m time trial and scratch race.

Both the Junior World and New Zealand records for the Individual Pursuit were broken by St
Peter’s, Cambridge cyclist Finn Fisher-Black at the Vantage Elite and U19 Track National
Championships.

New Zealand now holds both Junior Individual Pursuit world records, as former St Peter’s,
Cambridge student Ellesse Andrews set the women’s record at the World Championships in 2017.
The 17-year-old student set the New Zealand record of 3:08.815 in the 3000m Individual Pursuit on
Saturday, 9 th February. This race, however, he could not be considered for the official world record
without a UCI official in place.

But that didn’t matter for Finn as he set an official world record in the final – clocking 3:09.710 to win
gold.

On top of his records, Finn also placed third in the Open Men’s 40km Madison with riding partner
George Jackson and 5 th in the U19 Men’s Scratch Race.

This success follows his recent accomplishment of being named Secondary School Sportsman of
the Year at the 2018 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Awards.

Finn is already a junior world champion in the Team Pursuit having won gold at Junior World Track
Cycling Championships in Switzerland in 2018.

He is part of the Grassroots Trust Waikato/Bay of Plenty Performance Hub in addition to road
riding with the Skoda Fruzio Team.
​
Another St Peter’s student, Reuben Webster, had an exceptional ride in the 1km Time Trial, placing
2nd and clocking a new personal best time of 1:04:023.

Baradene College sisters Abigail and Ella Morton made history at the Cycling New Zealand Schools National Road Championships as the first sisters to win gold in their respective age groups, on the same day at Loburn, North Canterbury.

It was a memorable day for the Morton family with sisters Abigail and Ella taking out the Under 20 girls and Under 15 girls titles.

“It was a surreal feeling crossing the finish line knowing I came first,” Ella said after the race. “Knowing that me and my sister were able to make history at nationals was an absolutely incredible experience.”

“It was a special moment,” added Abigail, “especially as this was our last opportunity to race at school nationals together.”

Abigail out-sprinted Jorja Swain (Whangarei Girls' High School) for the line, while last year’s Under 17 girls winner McKenzie Milne (Waikato Diocesan) finished third, 12 seconds back. In the Under 15 race, Ella also took out the sprint for the line ahead of James Hargest College's Jasmine McLeod and fellow Baradene rider Lydia Stevens.

The 51st edition of the national school road championships has drawn 601 riders from 100 schools for the three-day competition. It began on Saturday with a team time trial, with the individual road race today and a points race to be held on Monday.

The ability of the riders was tested early on with crashes around 7km into the 17.3km in all four Under 13 and Under 14 races. The wind also played its part in producing some surprising results, with some age group’s catching the race ahead, and most races ending in a bunch sprint for the line up the 700m home stretch.

In the Under 20 boys race, recently crowned Junior Track World Champion Corbin Strong (Southland Boys' High School) won the sprint for the finish ahead of last year’s winner Madi Hartley-Brown (Palmerston North Boys' High School) and Callum Walsh (Saint Kentigern College).

St Kentigern’s Jensen Foster won the Under 17 boys in 52:35 in a race that again finished in a bunch sprint for the line. Michael Redmond (Palmerston North Boys) and Oliver Simcock-Smith (Auckland Grammar) were second and third across the line respectively.

“I was a hyper child so BMX was suggested to me as something to do when I was four years old. It’s evolved into something bigger than I ever imagined,” Cailen Calkin recalls off his initial forays into BMX.
 
In October, Calkin (a product of Hamilton Boys’ High School) will head to Argentina to represent New Zealand at the Youth Olympics.

When did BMX become more than a purist to kill restlessness?  
 
“The penny dropped at the Vector Arena in 2013. I won the World Championship Challenge beating about 100 riders,” Calkin recalls.
 
Calkin has beaten many more riders since. He won his first New Zealand title in 2012 and is currently a 10-time National Champion. He has now won three World Championships and aged 16, moved into the junior elite (Under-19) category, reaching the quarterfinals in his junior elite World Championship debut.
 
How does one prepare for 30 seconds of madness?
 
“I’m not sure, but I do a lot of gym work to build strength and energy. I also have a psychologist who helps me focus on perfecting my craft,” Calkin responds.
 
Calkin is a member of the Cycling New Zealand high performance programme and is one of five riders heading to the Youth Olympics. Calkin can’t wait for the experience.
 
“I’m not sure how I’ll go, but I’d like to thank my sponsors for helping me get there. In BMX anything can happen,” Calkin concludes.
 
Also in the New Zealand cycling team for the Youth Olympics:
 
Jessie Smith
Hamilton
DOB: 21 April 2001
Age: 17 years
Jessie is a multi-world champion in age groups (Challenge Class) over several years, winning the 14 years, 15 years and 16 years titles before moving to the junior elite (under-19 category). In her first year in the junior elite category, Jessie made it to the semi-finals, finishing ninth overall and missing out of the grand final by 0.1s. She is sponsored and mentored by London Olympic silver medallist, Sarah Walker.
 
Sammie Maxwell
Taupo
DOB: 27 December 2001
Age: 16 years
Sammie Maxwell is a member of the Subway National Mountain Bike Performance Hub and won the New Zealand cross-country under-19 title this year. She is also an adept road and cyclocross rider.
 
Phoebe Young
Wanaka
DOB: 12 September 2000
Age: 17 years
Young is an excellent all-round cyclist who is the current Oceania under-19 mountain bike champion and runner-up in the under-19 mountain bike national championships. On the road she is the under-19 road cycling time trial national champion and was second in the Oceania Champs. She is a member of the Subway National MTB Performance Hub.
 
Max Taylor
Palmerston North
DOB: 29 July 2001
Age 16 years
Max won the 2017 current New Zealand mountain bike under-17 title and is currently a member of the Subway National Mountain Bike Performance Hub. He has enjoyed success as a road cyclist in school and age competitions.

“I’ve kind of just narrowed it down to cycling now, so I can focus on that,” responds Prudence Fowler when asked for her preference of choice of sports.

After all, the year 11 Diocesan School for Girls athlete has competed in swimming, triathlon, water polo and rowing to a high level. Last year she was in crews that finished fourth and seventh respectively in Coxed Four and Coxed Eight Maadi Cup A Finals and she was the Dio’s U15 Rower of the Year.

“I have played three or four sports and I like them all, but I for now I’m concentrating on cycling.”

For good reason too.

In March the first year U17 age group competitor won gold in the 2000m individual pursuit at the age group track nationals in Invercargill and less than a fortnight ago she won both the U17 girls time trial and the U17 girls road race at the age group road nationals in the Wairarapa. 

Backing up her win last year in the U15 category, Prudence didn’t just win the opening day time 15km trial, she thrashed the rest of the 19-strong U17 girls field – winning by 42 seconds.

“I knew I had a chance to do well, but wasn’t expecting to do as well I did,” she said. “The time trial was seeded and because this was my first time in the U17s I was in the middle of the field, so I crossed the line and then I had to wait for the others to come in.

​"It was also really windy so that made it harder.”

Representing her Te Awamutu Sports club, Prudence said the 66km two-lap road race the next day was a tough race.

“There was a breakaway on the first lap, so there was a smaller group of about seven of us. We rode together for the majority of the race and then there was a group sprint and I won,”
​
Ella Wyllie (representing Counties Manukau) and Lucy Buckeridge (North Harbour Cycling), Henrietta Christie (Leeston Cycling Club), Maadi Douglas (Te Awamutu) and  Lucy Humpheson and Olivia Kikstra (both Canterbury Time Trial Assn) finished behind Prudence in the sprint finish.

Prudence said that her recent success on the track helped her find that extra kick at the end of the road race nationals.

“I quit rowing so that I could do track cycling over the summer,” she explains.

“I hadn’t really done any track when I started the season and I went down to the Waikato champs just before Christmas and I won the pursuit there. It was my first track championship event.”

From there, she targeted the National Age Grade track championships in March and backed up her Waikato 2,000m individual pursuit win with gold at the nationals in a winning time of 2.33.395.

She also won gold in the U17 Team Pursuit and gold in the U17 Madison in March.

In winning the pursuit title, Prudence is hoping to follow in the footsteps of recent Commonwealth Games competitors Emma Cumming and Ellese Andrews. Cumming won bronze in the 500m time trial on the Gold Coast, while last year’s St Peter’s School year 13 cyclist Andrews rode 2:18.080 to smash the junior 2,000m IP world record by four seconds.
​
Plus another famous Auckland Dio old girl. “Sarah Ulmer is an ex-Dio girl, so she is someone to look up to for that reason as well.” Ulmer won gold and set a then world record in the 3000m IP at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. 

Prudence’s coach is Hayden Roulston, a former professional road cyclist who also won silver in the men’s 3000m IP at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

She has been playing sport all her life, and gets it from her family. Her older sister is a former school athlete while her father is an ironman athlete and has competed at Kona in Hawaii a couple of times.

As well as cycling, Prudence is still swimming a couple of times a week for fitness and variety.

What’s coming up next? “The school season is starting to kick off. There’s the North Islands in July, then schools nationals [in Christchurch this year] and then it is straight back into the club stuff again.”
​
At last year’s school nationals In the Manawatu she didn’t finish the U15 road due to technical problems but she won the U15 points race the following day. She also won the U15 time trial and the U15 Criterium. 

Some 670 of the country’s leading cyclists including many of the best secondary school riders competed for their clubs in the Wairarapa over three days this past weekend at the Vantage Age Group Road Cycling Nationals.
 
The championships saw Time Trials on day one and Road Races on days two and three.

A wrap of leading results involving secondary school riders in the junior races is below.

Time Trials

Mountain biker Phoebe Young (Mount Aspiring College) defended her title and edged out last year’s U17 winner Ally Wollaston (St Peter’s School, Cambridge) to secure the U19 Women’s Time Trial jersey.

The U19 men’s title went to last year’s U17 winner Finn Fisher-Black (Nelson College) who was named earlier this month in the team bound for the Junior Track World Championships in August.

Fisher-Black battled wind throughout but was able to put in a good ride and take out the national title over Jayden Kuijpers (St Peter’s College, Auckland) and Lachlan Dickson (Auckland Grammar School).
 
“I was holding a bit of energy back ready for the headwind on the way back which I knew was going to be a hard point in the race, when I hit the 1km sign to go it really started to hurt.
 
“There wasn’t much of a gap in the win, only 4.5sec but I’m pretty happy with the result, I just gave it all the way to the line,” said Fisher-Black.

Laurence Pithie (Christchurch Boys’ High School) continued his success from the recent Age Group Track Nationals to add the U17 boys Time Trial title to his belt after putting in the effort and battling a windy course.
 
Prudence Fowler (Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland) won the U17 girls race backing up her win last year in the Under15 category, this time getting ahead of Maddi Douglas (Cambridge High School) and Ella Wyllie (Epsom Girls’ Grammar School).
 
August Elworthy (Takapuna Grammar School) took out the U15 boys win while Amye Kellow (Christchurch) won the U15 girls road race.

Road Races
 
Elworthy backed up his time trial win with victory in the U15 boys road race ahead of Jaxson Whyte (Roncalli College) and Jaxson Russell (Cambridge High School).  PHOTO right - credit Dave Lintott Photography. 
 
Bee Townsend (Auckland) won the U15 girls in a sprint finish ahead of Ally Gothard (St Mary’s College) and Amye Kellow.
 
Another sprint finish in the U17 Girls saw Prudence Fowler take the win over Ella Wyllie and Lucy Buckeridge (Takapuna Grammar School).
 
Ally Wollaston and Burnie McGrath (Hamilton Boys’ High School 2017) won the U19 races.
 
U19 women’s road race winner Wollaston was sure the race would end in a bunch sprint so aimed at keeping herself in a good position in the last 10kms and timing it right at the end.
 
“There were heaps of attacks in the first half, and then second half was pretty flat, long and windy and the pace kind of eased up a little bit. So it played into the sprinters’ hands at the end which was good for me” said Wollaston.

The U17 boys race ended in a dramatic mass bunch sprint with Henri Lehrke (Francis Douglas Memorial College) securing the top spot, with Mitchel Fitzsimons (Southland Boys’ High School) only a hundredth of a second behind him with Oliver Grave (Auckland Grammar School finishing third).

Henri Lehrke left with his trophy. Photo by Dave Linott Photography.

PHOTOS: For more photos visit Dave Lintott Photography here 

RESULTS: For full results go here 
 ​

​Over 100 schools from throughout the country gathered in Rotorua this week for the NZSS Mountain Bike Championships.
 
The championships comprised cross-country individual on Monday and team relays on Tuesday, both at Waipa Mountain Bike Park, with the downhill races at Skyline Rotorua which was hosted by Crankworx, the international mountain bike carnival.
 
Josh Burnett of Southland Boys High took top honours in the under-20 boys race on cross-country day, while local Ruby Ryan of Rotorua Lakes High took control of the under-20 girls race.
 
In the under-17s Angus Riordan of St Pauls Collegiate Hamilton won for the boys and Isobel Wotton of Trident High School took out the girls race with a 25sec lead.
 
The under-16 races saw Adam Francis of Palmerston North Boys win by nearly five minutes with Emma Lord of Mt Maunganui College winning it for the girls.
 
Hot off her win of both cross-country and downhill at the Altherm Mountain Bike National Championships last month, Rebecca Hufflet secured the win in the under-15 girls while local John Paul College rider Cameron Beck won the boys race with a comfortable 4m 30s lead on the field.
 
The under-14 titles went to Coen Nicol of Taupo-Nui-a-Tia and Seana Gray of Waikato Waldorf while the under-13 golds went to Tauranga Intermediate’s Harry Kneebone and Mokoia Intermediate’s Milla Phipps.
Day two was the Cross-Country team relay where Palmerston North Boys High won the junior (under-16) boys race with Baradene College winning the girls and Marlborough Boys for the composite team.
 
The senior (under-20) boys relay title was taken out by Macleans College with Trident High School winning the girls and Mt Maunganui College the composite race.
 
The final day was downhill which was staged amongst the Crankworx action at Skyline Rotorua. Local Ryan Hasting of John Paul College won the Uunder-13 boys in 3:47.68 while former world BMX champion Sacha Earnest of Saint Kentigern won the girls race in 4:21.71.
 
The under-14 races saw Hamish Powell of Nelson College and Caitlyn Flavel of John Paul College prevail while under-15 titles went to Wakatipu High School’s Max Caulton and Nelson College’s Rebecca Hufflett.
James MacDermid of Hamilton Boys High and Kalani Muirhead from Mt Aspiring College won the under-16 titles while Blake Ross of Cambridge High School and Maia Jowett of Wakatipu High School took out the under-17 grades.
 
The under-20 races were hotly contended for the boys where Subway National Performance Hub riders filled the podium with Josh Oxenham of Saint Kentigern taking the top spot followed closely by Sam Gale and Nico Fernandez. Brooke Robertson of Waimea College took out the girls.

Results:
 
Cross-Country, Female, 13 years: Milla Phipps (Mokoia Intermediate) 47:01, 1; Sacha Earnest (Saint Kentigern College) at 6s, 2; Greer Hall (Cambridge Middle) at 6:39, 3. 14 years: Seana Gray (Waikato Waldorf) 1:09.19, 1; Florence McNabb (Nelson Intermediate) at 15s, 2; Emily Hannah (Queen Margaret College) at 5:16, 3. 15 years: Rebecca Hufflett (Nelson College) 1:07:13, 1; Mia Cameron (Taupo Nui-a-Tia) at 2:07, 2; Meredith Bowler (Tauhara College) at 4:27, 3. 16 years: Emma Lord (Mt Maunganui College) 1:10:55, 1; Eve Smith (Trident High School) at 33s, 2; Scarlett Buissink (Epsom Girls Grammar) at 2:23, 3. 17 years: Isobel Wotton (Trident High) 1:09:7, 1; Mia Callingham (Mt Maunganui College) at 25s, 2; Caitlin Titheridge (Christchurch Girls) at 1:18, 3. Under-20: Ruby Ryan (Rotorua Lakes) 1:24:38, 1; Poppy Buissink (Epsom Girls) at 7:53, 2; Olivia Baker (Hillcrest) 8:42, 3.Male, Under-13: Harry Kneebone (Tauranga Intermediate) 1:10.43, 1; Hunter Adams (Berkley Normal) at 1:06, 2; Joe Millington (Belmont Intermediate) at 2:35, 3. Under-14: Coen Nicol (Taupo Nui-a-tia College) 1:2:47s, 1; Maui Morrison (Cambridge) at 2:34, 2; Max Preece (St Peter’s College Auckland) at 2:55. Under-15: Cameron Beck (John Paul College) 1:18:47, 1; Sean Onishi (Taupo Nui-a-Tia College) at 4:32, 2; Bailey Fredericksen (Trident) at 6:28, 3. Under-16: Adam Frances (Palmerston North Boys) 1:13:29, 1; Alex Rainbow (Tauhara College) at 4:58, 2; Ben Orr (Palmerston North Boys) at 5:52, 3. Under-17: Angus Riorolan (St Pauls Collegiate Hamilton) 1:16:08, 1; Troy Herdman (Otumoetai College) at 10s, 2; Kaia Dorr (Mt Maunganui College) at 1:07, 3. Under-20: Josh Burnett (Southland Boys) 1:29:06, 1; Maxwell Wickens (Wellington College) at 1s, 2; George Furniss (Macleans College) same time, 3.
 
Team Relay, Junior, Boys: Palmerston North Boys High 1:06:16, 1; Taupo Nui-a-Tia at 2:45, 2; Whakatane High School at 3:54, 3. Girls: Baradene College 1:28:01, 1; Epsom Girls Grammar at 6:10, 2; Whakatane Intermediate 1 lap, 3. Mixed: Marlborough Boys 1:17:47, 1; Whakatane High at 2:29, 2.
Senior, Boys: Macleans College 1:23:58, 1; Tauranga Boys at 2:47, 2; Auckland Grammar at 4:08m, 3. Girls: Trident 1:49:48, 1; Epsom Girls at 19s, 2; John Paul College 1 lap, 3. Mixed: Mt Maunganui College 1:39:26, 1; Waimea College at 3:03, 2; Macleans College at 7:28, 3.
 
Downhill, Male, Under-13: Ryan Hastings (John Paul College) 3:47.68, 1; Bill Axon (Reremoana Primary School) at 15s, 2; William Savage (Tauranga Intermediatel) at 42s, 3. Under-14: Hamish Powell (Nelson College) 3:36.75, 1; Jake Earnest (ACG Parnell College) at 6s, 2; Tom Hoare (Nelson College) at 12s, 3. Under-15: Max Caulton (Wakatipu High School) 3:34.59, 1; Lachlan Stevens-McNab (John Paul College) at 2s, 2; Cameron Beck (John Paul College) 6s, 3. Under-16: James MacDermid (Hamilton Boys) 3:14.11, 1; Luke Hayman (Waitaki Boys) at 9s, 2; Ross Marcus (St Pauls Collegiate) at 10s, 3. Under-17: Blake Ross (Cambridge High) 2:58.43, 1; Finn Hawkesby-Browne (Hagley College) at 6s, 2; Finn Parsons (Rotorua Boyd) at 8s, 3. Under-20: Joshua Oxenham (Saint Kentigern College) 3:01.71, 1; Sam Gale (Waimea College) at 8s, 2; Nico Fernandez (Wakitipu High) at 10s, 3.
Female, Under-13: Sacha Earnest (Saint Kentigern) 4:21.71, 1. Under-14: Caitlyn Flavell (John Paul College) 4:18.07, 1. Under-15: Rebecca Hufflet (Nelson College) 4:14.08, 1; Jenna Hastings (John Paul College) at 2s, 2; Mia Cameron (Taupo Nui-a-Tia) 1:34, 3. Under-16: Kalani Muirhead (Mt Aspiring College) 4:23.23, 1; Millie Day (Kapiti College) at 21s, 2. Under-17: Maia Jowett (Wakatipu High) 4:26.31, 1; Olivia Lambert (Waimea College) at 1.23m, 2. Under-20: Brooke Robertson (Waimea College) 9:51.74, 1.