Eleven skaters picked for Brisbane
The South Canterbury Skating Club will have a strong presence at the Oceania championships in Brisbane in April.
A standout national championships has seen 11 South Canterbury skaters rewarded with spots in the New Zealand team to face their Australian foe in a series of races.
Jan Kuepper, Dale Christoffersen, Sophie Lowen, Keaton Swindells, Ariana Snook, Leah McDonald, Ella Benson, Sriya Mistry, Charlie Nevin, Charlotte Grant and Roshean O’Connor have all been named in the New Zealand team.
O’Connor and Nevin at 12-years-old are the youngest competitors named to compete.
Nevin had an outstanding national championships and became the youngest ever skater to stand on the podium at open level with her third place.
Christoffersen is the only South Cantabrian finished school, with the green and blacks supplying a number of young skaters.
South Canterbury took home 59 of the 111 medals and supply more than half of the New Zealand squad.
South Canterbury coach Bill Begg is also the New Zealand coach and he had no qualms selecting as large number from South Canterbury for the champs in Brisbane.
‘‘They all performed really well and deserve their spot in the side.’’
Begg said South Canterbury could’ve had more in the team.
‘‘All three of the McAuley’s could have been selected, while Charlotte Grant and one or two others could still force their way into the side. We could have quite easily had 15-16 skaters in the team.’’
Begg said it was a reasonably strong New Zealand side selected and the South Canterbury contingent would fill most of the junior spots.
‘‘Junior, juvenile and intermediate spots are largely being filled by South Canterbury skaters.’’
‘‘It’s always a good challenge over in Australia, they sent some of their junior athletes to the world championships last year and we didn’t so they should be quite a good challenge for us.’’
He was happy with the form of the skaters from the national championships and was confident many of them would be attending the Oceania’s in tip top shape.
For some of the team, the leadup to thew Oceanias includes the Tour of Timaru, the Caledonian Games in Waimate and the National Bank Track championships.
Well known New Zealand skater Nicole Begg will not be competing in Brisbane but may be seen during the Tour of Timaru.