Latham and Boyd take top track honours

Peter Latham, 2012 NZ IP Champion

Feb 4th, 12. Peter Latham followed up his recent World Cup IP gold medal with the gold medal in today's NZ National Track Championships and keep his Olympic dream rolling. Day 1 results.

As well as Latham, fellow Waikato Bay of Plenty rider Kaytee Boyd along with Southland-based Natasha Hansen put their hands up for the upcoming UCI World Cup in London and the World Championships with impressive wins tonight.

Latham won the men's 4000m individual pursuit title after beating off the challenge from fellow Beijing Olympic squad member Westley Gough (Waipukurau) in a vital showdown as selectors look to fill a vacant spot in the team pursuit for the London World Cup later this month.

"Any national title is nice to win and I'm pretty satisfied to come through with a good ride tonight," said Latham who won the gold medal in this event at the last World Cup event in Beijing last month.

"We had a good campaign in Beijing at the World Cup a few weeks ago. I made the most of the opportunity to ride the team pursuit there and wanted to back that up tonight with a good ride.

"The event the whole team is targeting is the World Championships in April in Melbourne. Whether they take me to London in a few weeks or they send me home to train for a weeks, I will just go where I am told."

Latham is one eight team pursuit riders vying for the four Olympic team pursuit spots.

Kaytee Boyd won the women's IP in a thrilling ride 

Meanwhile Boyd was the best of the women in the 3000m individual pursuit, taking the national title ahead of teammate Rushlee Buchanan.

Both Boyd and Buchanan have been part of the BikeNZ team pursuit squad at World Championship level and are also battling for a spot going forward.

"Individual pursuits are always a tough ride, but I was confident in myself. It wasn't really about the title tonight, it was about doing a good ride," said Boyd who pipped Buchanan by just 3/1000th of a second in a tremendous race.

"I find individual pursuit a real mental challenge but I think I am getting better at them slowly. It seems so simple but you have to think the whole way through. You have to slowly release the energy."

Women sprinters continue to impress

Invercargill-based Hansen, formerly from Christchurch, reinforced hopes that the burgeoning women's sprint programme has a strong future when she decimated the 500 metre time trial national record. Hansen set a new time of 34.915, with her New Zealand representative team sprint partner Katie Schofield (Otago) also eclipsing the current record and securing herself the silver medal.

The pair are making a late push for Olympic qualification and hope to be selected for the London World Cup, which offers a further chance towards their Olympic dream.

Earlier in the night Hansen partnered teenager Stephanie McKenzie (Southland) to win the women's team sprint, finishing just a blink off the national record.

BikeNZ riders Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Simon van Velthooven (Auckland) were too strong for their Southland rivals in the team sprint final. The trio rode a 44.268 to narrowly miss the national record by 3/10ths of a second, taking the title ahead of the Southland trio of Regan Sheath, Matt Archibald and Eddie Dawkins.

The championships continue until Monday.

Day 1 Results

Men Individual Pursuit, 4000m

• Qualifying: Peter Latham (WBOP) 4.21.739, 1; Wes Gough (ECNI) 4.22.065, 2; Alex Frame (Canterbury) 4.25.709, 3; Cameron Karwowski (Southland) 4.32.308, 4.
• Final: Latham 4.21.975, 1; Gough 4.23.753, 2. Bronze ride: Frame 3.54.335 3; Karwowski (caught) 4.

Women Individual Pursuit, 3000m

• Qualifying: Kaytee Boyd (Auckland) 3.41.251, 1; Rushlee Buchanan WBOP) 3.43.061, 2; Georgia Williams (Auckland) 3.43.983, 3; Sequoia Cooper (Southland) 3.44.860, 4.
• Final: Boyd 3.41.977, 1; Buchanan 3.42.00, 2. Bronze ride: Williams 3.43.880, 3.

Men Team Sprint

• Qualifying: Auckland (Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster, Simon van Velthooven) 44.396, 1; Southland (Regan Sheath, Matt Archibald, Eddie Dawkins) 45.772, 2; Composite (Karl Watson, James Vercoe, Ben Simpson) 49.731, 3.
• Final: Auckland 44.268, 1; Southland 45.662, 2; Composite 49.731, 3.

Women Team Sprint

• Qualifying: Southland (Stephanie McKenzie, Natasha Hansen) 35.077, 1; Auckland (Vanessa Quinn, Henrietta Mitchell) 37.049, 2; Canterbury (Olivia Wieblitz, Elizabeth Steel) 37.912, 3.
• Final: Southland 34.778, 1; Auckland 36.913, 2; Canterbury 37.912, 3.

Men 1000m Time Trial

• Karwowski 1.02.698, 1; Gough 1.03.179, 2; Aaron Gate (Auckland), 1.03.484, 3.

Women 500m Time Trial

• Natasha Hansen (Southland), 34.915 (NZ Record) 1; Katie Schofield (Otago), 34.989, 2; Stephanie McKenzie (Southland), 36.568, 3.

Under 19 Men Omnium

• 200m Flying Lap: Dylan Kennett (Canterbury) 13.381, 1; Tom Beadle (Southland) 13.582, 2; Daniel Ellison (Tasman) 13.855, 3
• Points Race: Hayden McCormick (WBOP) 17 pts, 1; Hamish Schreurs (Canterbury) 8 pts, 2; Kennett, 8pts, 3.
• Standings after two events: Kennett, 4 pts, 1; Ellison, 10pts, 2; Harrison and Schreurs, 11pts, equal 3.

Under 19 Women Omnium

• 200m Flying Lap: Alysha Keith (Otago) 14.938, 1; Racquel Sheath (Auckland) 15.135, 2; Georgina Wilson (Auckland) 15.537, 3
• Points Race: Keith, 12 pts, 1; Cassie Cameron (WCNI) 10 pts, 2; Wilson, 10 pts, 3.
• Standings after two events: Keith, 2pts, 1; Sheath, Wilson, Cameron 6pts, equal 2.