Road RacesMenBoth the men's and women's road races at the Oceania Championships we won by New Zealand riders. In the 155 km men's race, Glen Mitchell (25) won after a successful early break with fellow countrymen Karl Murray, Brendon Vesty and Ric Reid. The race was held over 12 x 11 kms, then 3 x 5 kms. Mitchell attacked on the last 3 laps and was 2.19 ahead of second-placed rider Karl Murray with Vesty on the same time in third. Reid, who won this race when it was last held in Townsville, Australia was 4th at 3secs. The win was Mitchell's first since winning the National Championship in April. He has had a long lay-off over the winter while recovering from a knee injury. He is reported as saying: "I was feeling quite fresh compared to some of the riders so I think that helped. Because the calibre was so good, everyone was going to watch oneanother and not play their full hand early on. try to dictate, then they have to react. I'd been out there with those guys all day and you start to know when others are starting to feel strong or weak. There may have been a feeling that we'd leave it to the last lap or two, so I thought I'd go early and surprise them."
1. Glen Mitchell (NZ) 4.02.15 2. Karl Murray (NZ) 2.09 3. Brendon Vesty (NZ) 2.09 4. Ric Reid (NZ) 2.12 5. S. Mitchell (NZ) 2.50 Women In the women's race, Susy Pryde beat Australia's Barcelona Gold Medallist Kathy Watt after attacking at the 70 kms mark of the 115 km championship. Pryde represented NZ at the World Road Championships and came 16th. She also competed in the Wellington (NZ) round of the World MTB Championships. She races mostly in the US for the Seiko-Timex team. She caught an early breakaway rider New Zealand's Jo Lawn (who at one stage had a lead of 2 minutes) and went on to take the race in 3.12.59. Watt was second at 2.13. Only Tracey Clark was able to counter the attack but also dropped back to the chasing group including Kathy Watt. The victor was reported in an official communique as saying: "There were two of us when I broke so I didn't expect any more New Zealanders to go with us, but I'm surprised no Australians did."
1. Susy Pryde (NZ) 3.12.59 2. Kathy Watt (Aus) 2.13 3. Tracey Clark (NZ) 2.21 4. Jo Lawn (NZ) 5. C Cox (NZ) Under 19
1. Heath Blackgrove (NZ) 2. Karl Moore (NZ) 3. Douglas Hunt (Aus) MTB Cross Country
Open men:
1. J Fleming (Aus) 2.17.21
2. K Leuchs (NZ) 2:23.30
3. C Brokensha (Aus) 2:26.52
4. S Vincent (NZ) 2:27.13
5. C Fellingham (NZ) 2:27.15
Open women:
1. A Mahoney (NZ) 2:18.48
2. C Dunn (NZ) 2:24.33
3. A Mote (NZ) 2:28.15
4. S Parker (NZ) 2:36.07
5. M McConnell (Aus) 2:39.22
Under-19 men:
1. L Hately (Aus) 1:54.26
2. B Powell (NZ) 1:57.37
3. K Snow (NZ) 1:58.00
4. A Chronis (NZ) 1:59.12
5. D Eckert (Aus) 2:03.50
Veteran men:
1. R Heald (NZ) 1:57.49
2. T Johnson (NZ) 1:59.27
3. D Mace (NZ) 2:03.09
4. S Elgar (NZ) 2:07.07
5. J Lyall (NZ) 2:07.55
Scratch race
Open Men, 15 km:
1. J Dean (NZ)
2. T Carswell (NZ)
3. G Anderson(NZ)
Women 10 km:
1. S Smith (Aus)
2. F Ramage (NZ)
3. R Gilmore(Aus)
4. Chelsey Zucker(Aus)
Under-19, 10 km:
1. J Goyetche (NC)
2. G Bates (Aus)
3. S Melrose (NZ)
Sprint
Open men semifinals:
Anthony Peden (Aus) beat Sean Eadie (Aus) by default
G Sharman(Aus) beat A Kelly (Aus) 2-0.
Open men final:
A Peden (Aus) beat G Sharman (Aus) 2-1.
Under-19 men semifinals:
M Anderson (NZ) beat B Kersten (Aus) by default
J Dajka (Aus) beat S Hosking (Aus) 2-0
Under-19 men final:
Dajka beat Anderson 2-0.
Under-19 men 4000m teams pursuit:
1. New Zealand
(D Cheatley, G Bearman, J Robinson, B Gilbert) 4.35.575 (NZ record)
2. Australia (B Davidson, D Hunt, D Pell, GBates) by elimination.
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