Powerful pursuit ride lifts Botha into track cycling’s elite
Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club’s Tokyo Olympic cyclist Bryony Botha became the third fastest female pursuiter in history after another record-breaking effort at the Cycling New Zealand Track National Championships.
The 24-year-old member of Cycling New Zealand’s high performance squad set a new mark of 3m 21.506s for the 3000m individual pursuit in qualifying on Thursday at the Grassroots Trust Velodrome.
Botha smashed that in winning the final on Friday, clocking 3m 19.818s to dip under the 3.20 mark for another New Zealand record.
Only two women have gone faster; world record holder Chloe Dygert (US) in 3m 16.937s and world champion Lisa Brennauer (GER) who clocked 3m 18.258s in winning the world title last year.
Last month Botha broke the national record of Olympic gold medallist and then world record holder, Sarah Ulmer which had stood for 18 years. She recorded 3m 24.256s at the Waikato-Auckland Championships in Cambridge, 0.3s under Ulmer’s time.
She lowered that on Thursday and smashed it again on Friday.
“I am pretty stoked. I didn’t expect to do a 3.19 today,” said Botha. “But everyone else had full faith in me. It’s great to have so many people behind me believing that I could do it.
“I came into this week tired after training so to come out of that and to perform this week is really good.”
In a side-bet, her father offered a new computer if she went under 3.20.
“He came up with that deal on his own, so he only has himself to blame,” Botha said.
So what if she can break the record again?
“I do need a new fridge . . . ” Botha said she is excited with the Oceania Championships approaching in a few weeks.
Saturday, the final day of competition focused on team pursuit and team sprint.
Botha was part of the Waikato BOP team to win the women’s final along with Pru Fowler, Paralympian Nicole Murray (originally from Nga¯hinapo¯uri) and Seana Gray winning in 4m 31.500s.