Southland's Kergozou amongst winners on opening night of track nats
There were mixed emotions for Tasman’s Shaane Fulton immediately after winning the elite women’s 500m time trial on the opening night of the Vantage Elite and Under-19 Track Cycling National Championships in Invercargill.
Fulton completed her two laps of the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome in 34.239sec, just .03sec outside of the championship and national record set by the recently retired Natasha Hansen in Cambridge five years ago.
“The legs were definitely spun out and lactating pretty hard there at the end. It felt like I was pretty messy but I just rode my heart out. It was so close, I looked over and I was immediately stoked, but also pretty heartbroken,” Fulton said.
Tasman’s Shaane Fulton winning the elite women’s 500m time trial. Photo: Studio Jubb
“It’s always nice to put a good time up on the board and just show everyone what can happen. It’s been good over the past year that we’ve had a good programme of girls coming through and we’ve all been able to train together and race together. The standard has come up really high and it’s nice to come out on top”.
Southland’s Nick Kergozou, backing up from two hard team pursuit rides on Tuesday, couldn’t crack the 60sec mark but did bank another New Zealand 1000m time trial title.
Coming home in 1min 00.83sec, the championship record holder ensured he’ll be able to claim the Kilo Kergy Instagram handle for another 12 months.
Southlander Nick Kergozou claims another elite men’s 1000m time trial title on the opening night of the elite and under 19 national track cycling championships in Invercargill. Photo: Studio Jubb
“I was happy to take the title again, that was the main objective for the day. The time probably wasn’t what I was looking for, but in saying that we did two pretty hard TPs yesterday and I think that’s definitely taken a bit of zing out of the legs,” he said.
Kergozou is in for an interesting day tomorrow with the endurance rider opting to test his sprinting chops.
“I’ll just have a bit of fun now, just see how I get on. We had a bit of a layover day and I thought why not see what I can do in my sprint ability. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while so I’ll just go out there and see what I can do tomorrow.
“I’ve been 10.0 (sec, for the flying 200m) before, and breaking the 10.0 is always the magic thing. Knowing that I haven’t been in the gym and I’ve had an injury previously we’ll just see how it goes and give it my all.”
Auckland’s Olivia Ray continued her strong form from the road, taking out the elite women’s scratch race after clearing out strongly on the final lap of the 10km race.
Waikato/Bay of Plenty’s McKenzie Milne led out the sprint home and was rewarded with silver, with Southland’s Rylee McMullen third.
Wellington’s George Jackson produced a stunning finish to claim the elite men’s 15km scratch race title from a quality field, clearing out with two and a half laps to go and holding on desperately for gold.
West Coast/North Island’s Campbell Stewart recovered from a heavy crash in the 1000m time trial final to win bronze, with Kergozou winning silver.
Along with a couple of national records, Para-Cycling head performance coach Stu MacDonald was excited about the growing depth amongst his riders.
Aucklanders Sarah Ellington and Nick Blincoe both broke the New Zealand mark in their respective 500m and 1000m time trial events, with Devon Briggs (Waikato/Bay of Plenty) and Southlander Connor Douglas both performing strongly behind Blincoe in a promising indication for the future.
MacDonald was hoping for a stronger performance from the tandem pairing of Emma Foy and Nina Wollaston in tomorrow’s pursuit after a flat outing in the 1000m tandem today.
Amelia Sykes and Jenna Borthwick continued their Canterbury and national rivalry with a one two respectively in the Junior women’s 500m time trial with Waikato/BOP’s Sophie De Vries rounding out the podium.
Jack Carswell and Zakk Patterson reversed the recent national road championships with Carswell claiming the win in the Junior 1000m time trial with Patterson in second and Canterbury’s Ryan McLeod taking third.
The championships continue tomorrow with big morning and afternoon sessions, including the elite sprint, Para-Cycling individual pursuits and under 19 keirin.
Wednesday Results, Elite:
Women 500m time trial: Shaane Fulton (Tasman) 34.239, 1; Ellesse Andrews (Waikato BOP) 34.704, 2; Olivia King (Waikato BOP) 35.378, 3.
Men 1000m time trial: Nicholas Kergozou (Southland) 1.00.833, 1; Josh Scott (Canterbury) 1.01.648, 2; Regan Gough (East Coast NI) 1.01.796, 3.
Women 10km scratch race: Olivia Ray (Auckland) 1; McKenzie Milne (Waikato BOP) 2; Rylee McMullen (Southland) 3.
Men 15km scratch race: George Jackson (Wellington) 1; Nick Kergozou (Southland) 2; Campbell Stewart (West Coast NI) 3.
Under-19:
Women 500m time trial: Amelia Sykes (Canterbury) 35.832, 1; Jenna Borthwick (Canterbury) 36.130, 2; Sophie De Vries (Waikato BOP) 36.659, 3.
Men 1000m time trial: Jack Carswell (Waikato BOP) 1.03.667, 1; Zakk Patterson (Waikato BOP) 1.03.723, 2; Ryan McLeod (Canterbury) 1.04.406, 3.
