WANGANUI teammates Jessica van Bentum and Rebecca Smith couldn't have had a better lead-up to their European adventure than their upset win in the senior women's relay at the NZ banked track championships in Timaru.
Timaru's Nicole Begg continued her domination of the senior women's individual events, taking all the available golds. Van Bentum, showing much improved form from January's road championships, took all the silver medals with the exception of the 300mTT, in which Manawatu's Daina Gibbs pipped her for second.
Smith was a strong third in the 1000m and fourth in the 15k elimination, 500m and 300mTT.
With only two Wanganui girls racing against their three-person teams in the 3000m relay, Timaru backed themselves to take gold and silver. They loaded their No1 team with their strongest skaters and put Begg in the No2 team. The intention was for her to control the pace to let the No1 team get away and then to sprint ahead for the win at the finish.
However, the Wanganui duo refused to play ball and attacked. They kept the pace high, leading Timaru No1 and forcing Begg to skate a bigger share of the laps to keep her No2 team in the hunt.