The East Coast North Island track cycling team is holding its own at the RaboPlus NZ Track Cycling Championship at the indoor velodrome in Invercargill. Half way through the week long event the medal tally is mounting, with Kerry Harford's gold at the Masters 2 points race closely followed by Westley Gough's silver at 4km Elite men pursuit. In the junior ranks it's Fraser Gough who leads the charge as he scored a gutsy bronze in the Under 17 Boys 3km pursuit and a accident marred silver in the 10km points race. Fellow team mate Sam Clarke ended up watching the final of this points race from a stretcher after he was taken out on the steep embankment by careless riding from some of the local lads. After spending most of the night at the hospital this tough nugget from Waipukurau is ready to take on the Team Sprints on Saturday minus some skin and a stitched up ear.
The next bit of bling will come from Havelock North's Harford as he qualified for the 3km pursuit final riding off for gold against Nelson's Ray Dunstan, who broke is own NZ record by three seconds in the heats.
This premium event has highlighted again the depth of track cycling talent hidden in Hawkes Bay, the only province with currently no local velodrome to train or compete on. More exciting track racing is expected in the later stage of the champs, which will be crowned off by the Elite Men Scratch on Saturday night, with Olympian Westley Gough among the early favorites.
Down Load Results to all races: here
