Cyclists win seven gold medals at SI schools champs
Half of the 14 medals won by South Canterbury cyclists at the South Island secondary schools championships at Christchurch over the weekend were gold.
There were double golds for three riders – Sophie Best (under14 girls, Gleniti School), Kyra Marett (under-16 girls, Geraldine High School) and Noah Hollamby (under-17 boys, Timaru Boys’ High School) – as they won both individual time trials and road races.
Jesse Johnston (TBHS) won the seventh gold in the under-15 boys’ individual time trial and was edged out of the gold double in the road race, finishing second, 0.41 seconds behind the winner.
Hollamby was close to completing a golden treble as the TBHS under-20 time trial team took home silver, with a time just three seconds slower than Christchurch Boys’ High School.
Craighead Diocesan High School’s Zoe Spillane and Reef Roberts (TBHS) were others to win two medals. Spillane won bronze in the under-17 girls’ road race and silver in the individual time trial while Roberts scored a bronze in the individual time trial and a silver in the team time trial.
In the overall team points competition for the Hayden Godfrey Challenge Cup, TBHS finished fourth on 25 points, behind CBHS and Rangi Ruru both on 36, and Medbury 34.
South Canterbury medallists:
Road races
Gold: Sophie Best (Gleniti, under-14 girls); Kyra Marett (Geraldine, under-16 girls); Noah Hollamby (TBHS, under-17 boys).
Silver: Jesse Johnston (TBHS, under-15 boys).
Bronze: Olivia Ewing (Craighead, under-15 girls); Conor Toomey (TBHS, under-15 boys); Zoe Spillane (Craighead, under-17 girls).
Individual time trials
Gold: Best, Johnston, Marett and Hollamby.
Silver: Spillane Bronze: Reef Roberts (TBHS, under-17 boys).
Team time trials
Silver: TBHS (Hollamby, Roberts, Mitch Brookland, Josh Young, Cameron Anderson, under-20).