St Peter’s started off the Cycling NZ School's Track Championships in Invercargill with an absolute cracker! Not only did the riders give it their all but we even got some results to show for it!
The first race up was Flynn Underwood in the U14 boys scratch who flew home for 2nd place in a perfectly timed run to the finish line. Followed by the equally as thrilling U14 girls scratch which included the first crash of the event. Millie Wright showed off her impressive track skills to avoid coming down and then having the race neutralised and restarted off the rail with 4 laps to go. She then went on to claim 2nd closely followed by Olive-Rose Gofton (4th), Grace Johnston (5th) and Amelia Rettkowicz (6th). Hannah Paine (8th) unfortunately got her laps wrong and miscalculated her attack for the finish but came away with a lesson learnt - always check the lap board!
The U15 boys continued to show off just how strong our team is with Ryan Hansen, Kane Foster (2nd) and Frankie Wright (3rd) taking out the top three steps with an extremely impressive attack and solo win by Ryan which had the coaches jumping up and down screaming like maniacs!
The U16 boys had a tough field but Hamish Banks (5th), Louis Grimshaw (8th) and Paul Rettkowicz (9th) managed to hang on and deliver a solid sprint at the end despite spending the majority of their 12 lap scratch above the Madison line burning many matches!
Our U17 boys Oliver Watson-Palmer (5th) and Lewis Johnston (11th) competed in the largest field of the day, riding smart to secure good point’s towards the overall omnium standings. The U17 girls raced a fast and aggressive race with Arabella Tuck giving it a nudge on many occasions making the other girls work for it! Sophie de Vries played to her strengths and waited to kick with only a couple laps to go sprinting her way into second with Lily Cawood (4th) not far behind and Arabella securing 12th.
St Peter’s were in for a challenge with a stacked field of U20 boys for the 20 lap scratch. Pearse Gatley’s racing experience showed as he positioned himself well in the bunch to secure 5th followed by fellow teammates Hamish Coltman (12th) and Bailey Moran (16th).
The session ended with Team Pursuit and Team Sprint qualifying, with 7 teams heading into the Gold/Silver final and a further 3 teams heading in the bonze medal final.
Day 2 started with the second event of the omnium: the 515m scratch for U14-U15 and a keirin for U16-U20 heats and finals.
First up were the U14 girls 515m heats with Hannah and Millie progressing through to the A final and Olive-Rose, Amelia and Grace contesting in the B final.
The U15 boys continued to show their strength all making it through the heats to go head to head in the A final (Ryan, Kane and Frankie).
In the U16 boys keirin heats we had all 3 boys in one heat, with only 3 riders progressing to the final it was a tough battle with Reggie moving through to the final and Paul and Louis unfortunately missing out on another ride. Our U17 boys rode off in the same keirin heat with Oliver making the A final and Lewis just missing out coming 4th in his heat to make the B final.
Our U17 sprinters Sophie and Lily rode smart to secure a spot in the A final and Arabella our roadie turned trackie raced her first keirin learning heaps for her race in the B final.
The U20 boys saw Pearse narrowly miss out on a spot in the A final with only 2 progressing through left little room for error. Hamish rode well to make the A final and Bailey in a stacked heat made an early move but was unfortunately swamped by top level riders.
Once the heats were through we started with the finals. Flynn was up first in a straight final in the 515m scratch for the U14 boys were again he rode well to claim 3rd. Our U14 girls Hannah and Millie competed in the A final placing 4th and 5th. Amelia went right from the gun in the B final to dominate and win (7th) followed by Olive-Rose (8th) and Grace (9th).
All three of our U15 boys lined up in the A final and Ryan managed to just roll his competitors on the line getting the victory with Frankie and Kane digging hard for 5th and 6th.
The U16 boys keirin was an aggressive race, with a crash taking out 3 riders in the bell lap adrenaline, skill and raw power got Hamish Banks across the line in first.
Oliver rode well in the U17 boys keirin to place 3rd and Lewis competed in the B final securing 12th. The U17 girls A final was a tight finish with Sophie coming in 2nd and Lily 4th. Arabella took her learnings from the morning heats to get 11th place.
Hamish Coltman rode in the U20 boys A final just missing out on the top 3 getting 4th place and Pearse rode well to come second in his B final placing 8th overall in the keirin.
The team continued to thrive at the school track champs morning session, going from strength to strength and showing their versatility and in both the endurance and sprint events. The afternoon saw the third and final event of the omnium, the points race. Flynn was first up in the U14 boys event. With two sprint laps in his race, and Flynn securing points on each lap, he placed 3rd in the race. This gave Flynn the Bronze Medal in the overall omnium standings.
In the U14 Girls points race Amelia found her sprint legs, coming home flying for the final sprint to gain three points and place 3rd in the race. Millie picked up points in both sprint laps to place 4th with Hannah crossing the line in 5th. This race secured Millie the Bronze medal in the U14 Girls omnium.
In the U15 Boys points race Ryan went out hard for the first sprint, taking maximum points for the win. Kane and Frankie also picked up points in the first sprint. Frankie won the second sprint and kept form to again win points in the third and final sprint of the race. This gave Frankie the win in the points race, with Ryan taking third. Overall in the omnium Ryan took the Gold medal and Frankie the bronze. Excellent racing by all.
In the U16 Boys points race Hamish Banks raced with skill and experience to gain points in two out of three sprint laps, placing second overall. This contributed to him winning the silver medal in the omnium. Paul picked up a few points in the race to place 7th overall with Louis 8th.
Oliver showed his experience and skill in the U17 boys points race, winning all three sprints to take the win in the points race. However the race wasn’t without drama, with the biggest crash of the event happening, Oliver did well to avoid the crash and continued to race well once the race restarted. This race secured Oliver the Silver medal in the Omnium. Lewis was at the back of the bunch when the big crash happened, doing exceptionally well to avoid it, and get back up for the re-start.
In the U17 girls race Sophie and Lily raced smartly to gain points in some of the sprint’s, with Sophie placing fourth and Lily 6th in the race. Arabella worked hard and rode most of the race above the Madison line, learning a lot about bunch racing on the track in the process. This race contributed to Sophie winning the Silver medal in the Omnium.
In the U20 boys points race Hamish Coltman gained points in the last sprint to place 5th in the race and 4th in the omnium.
Year 7 & 8 Girls Scratch Race
The day ended with the most exciting races – the team finals. First up was our Year 7&8 Girls Team Pursuit of Millie, Olive-Rose, Hannah and Amelia. The girls executed the lap schedule perfectly with Millie burning early and Hannah doing a massive turn on the front. Amelia and Oliver-Rose kept the pace to hold the wheel perfectly with the girls winning the Gold Medal.
Next up was the U16 boys team pursuit of Frankie, Ryan, Hamish Banks and Kane. This was a very tight race with the boys pushing right to the line to win the Gold medal.
The U20 boys team pursuit of Hamish Coltman, Oliver, Pearse and Lewis were in the bronze medal ride after narrowly missing out on the Gold medal ride. The boys decided to try something out of the box to catch the other team as quickly as possible. Oliver started the team, then Hamish Coltman, a specialist sprinter took a turn on the front for 3 laps at a very fast pace before pulling. Pearse then held the pace for a further 2 laps to catch the other team at the halfway marker to claim the bronze. This was an incredible race to watch with many big cheers coming from the stadium!
After a quick bike change year 8, Hannah Paine joined Lily, Sophie and Arabella in the U20 Girls Team Pursuit final. Up against Cambridge High (who caught our girls when the two teams meet 2 months ago) this was always going to be a hard race. The girls showed how much they have improved recently with Arabella pulling a big turn on the front, holding pace to put the pressure on Cambridge High. They tried to respond but our girls held form, coming through to take the Gold with a win by 2.29 seconds.
Some quick recovery and another bike change from Hannah as she was joined by Millie for the final of the Year 7&8 Girls Team sprint. The girls raced well against a strong Kaitaia Intermediate team to win the silver medal. Amelia and Oliver-Rose has a fantastic race in the bronze medal race, going from strength to strength each race to win the Bronze medal in the same event.
In the U16 Boys Team Sprint final the 1st team of Frankie, Ryan and Hamish Banks, had a good race, with a Ryan riding a blistering pace in the second lap to win the silver Medal. In the ride off for Bronze the second team of Flynn, Paul and Kane raced well in what was a nail biting race to just miss out on a medal and place 4th overall.
The U20 boys team sprint of Bailey, Hamish Coltman and Oliver raced the final against an incredibly strong Cambridge High team, This was an exciting race with our boys racing well to win the silver medal.
The U20 Girls team sprint of Sophie and Lily was another nail biting race with our girls racing well to narrowly miss out on the gold, but win the Silver against a very strong Cambridge High Team.
In the race for the overall top school St Peter’s placed second with 134 points, behind Cambridge High on 176 points. This is an improvement on last year where we placed 3rd and have lessened the gap between us and local rivals Cambridge High. James Hargest College placed 3rd on 93 points.
