New Zealand Men's Pursuit Team Break Record At RaboPlus New Zealand Track Championships

The New Zealand Men’s Pursuit Team has smashed the national record during a special attempt on the 6th and final day of the RaboPlus New Zealand Track Championships in Invercargill.

The team is in build up mode for the UCI World Championships in Poland at the end of the month and were given the Invercargill track to themselves to lower the record, which stood at 4:08.890.

They went well under in a time of 3:59.593 just two seconds off the best time they managed at last year’s Beijing Olympics where they won bronze.*

“It’s two weeks out from the World Champs’ and we wanted to go fast tonight, we wanted to go sub 4 minutes, we’ve had a heavy last few days of individual racing and training, so to actually go out and do it is great,” team member Pete Latham said.

Latham was the reserve rider in Beijing last year and wasn’t awarded the bronze.
However at the time he was coming back from a broken back suffered in a race in France and feels he is now in top shape to help the New Zealand team go even quicker in Poland.

“We want to potentially go three or four seconds faster, if not more, we’ve been doing only individual training the last few weeks so hopefully over the next couple of weeks of training as a team we will have gelled together and be flying in time for the World Champs,” he said.

Latham was joined in the New Zealand team tonight by Wes Gough, Sam Bewley and New Zealand Individual Pursuit champion Jesse Sergent, while Marc Ryan sat out racing for the day.

The New Zealand Team for the UCI World Championships will be named tomorrow.
The Men’s Pursuit Team weren’t the only ones in record-breaking form tonight, with Canterbury’s Natasha Hansen breaking the New Zealand Flying 200m record.

It was a good night for the 19-year-old who also won the women’s keirin ahead of team-mate Penny Day.

However Day hit back in the women’s 8km scratch final taking the title ahead of Otago’s Katri Laike and Southland’s Sequoia Cooper.

World Omnium champion Hayden Godfrey took out the men’s 15km scratch final with Jason Christie claiming silver and Shem Rodger the bronze.

In tonight’s other race, Southland’s Eddie Dawkins won his third title this week taking the men’s keirin.

The race was drama-filled with Manawatu rider Simon van Velthooven coming off during the last lap, denying the crowd a classic finish between the two New Zealand hopefuls.

The RaboPlus New Zealand Track Championships have been the biggest ever with 273 riders competing and there’s been plenty to cheer about with 21 national records and one world record to Paralympian Paula Tesoriero falling during the week.

*New Zealand’s time in Beijing is the fastest ever by a New Zealand team, however New Zealand records must be recorded in New Zealand.

Day 6 Results:
New Zealand Records:
Men’s 4000m Team Pursuit: NZ Team (Jesse Sergent, Wes Gough, Sam Bewley, Peter Latham) 3:59.593 - previous record 4:08.890 17/11/07 Invercargill

Women’s 200m Flying Start: Natasha Hansen 11.702 – previous record 11.734
Open Women Keirin Final:
Natasha Hansen (Canterbury) 12.054 1, Penny Day (Canterbury) 2, Elizabeth Steel (Canterbury) 3.

Open Men Keirin Final:
Eddie Dawkins (Southland) 11.017 1, Jason Allen (Mid South Canterbury) 2, Andrew Williams (Auckland) 3.

Elite Women 8km Scratch Final:
Penny Day (Canterbury) 10:00.735 1, Katri Laike (Otago) 2, Sequoia Cooper (Southland) 3, Rosy McCall (Auckland) 4.

Elite Men 15km Scratch Final:
Hayden Godfrey (Canterbury) 17:38.477 1, Jason Christie (Mid South Canterbury) 2, Shem Rodger (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 3, Aaron Gate (Auckland) 4.

For full results: bikenz.org.nz