Over 600 cyclists from 84 different schools across New Zealand lined up to compete in the 52nd New Zealand Schools Road Cycling Championships in the Manawatu, held in the first weekend of the September school holidays.
St Peters took a team of 21 riders to contest in the Team Time Trial, Road Race and Points Race. In very windy and challenging, but thankfully mostly dry conditions our riders competed strongly and with fantastic St Peters Spirit. Day one saw a close 4th place for the under 16 boys team Time Trial Team and an outstanding 6th place for our year 7 girls who were also competing against the year 8 girls, look out for them next year! Our under 16 girls fought the strong winds to place 7th from 17 teams and unfortunately our under 20 boys team suffered from a mechanical after a super strong ride only a couple of kilometres from the finish line.
Day two brought more wind for the Road Race day on the undulating course based in Colyton. Hamish Banks out sprinted 50 other riders in the under 15 boys to take line honours along with the first gold medal for St Peters. Frankie Wright sprinted the under 14 boys bunch in for 3rd, closely followed by Kane Foster in 4th and in the under 17 boys grade Jacob Spring finished extremely well to bring home the second bronze medal for the day.
Day three dawned sunny and wind free (every cyclist dream race day), and lasted much longer than predicted with only a few races bearing the brunt of the wet and windy weather. Hamish Banks picked up his second gold for the competition by also winning the under 15 boys Points Race, while Frankie Wright picked up enough points throughout his race to finish second in the under 14 boys. Oliver Watson-Palmer also had a great ride but missed the medals by the narrowest of margins (one point) after storming to a solo break and winning the final sprint.
In total St Peters had 10 riders finish in the top 10 for their respective races which was a great effort given the high level of competition and big fields. Thank you to all the wonderful parents who came down to support the the Cycling team and help the smooth running of such a busy five days. Next week we get to do it all again, this time for the New Zealand Schools Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill.
© 2019 St Peter's, Cambridge
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