Speedsters make mark at champs

Caitlin Ferguson comes in while Chase Morpeth takes off in the Junior Mixed Pairs 1200m relay heats at Jubilee Stadium yesterday. Two Whanganui teams would make the final of this 11 team competition. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

More records fell and the Wanganui Speed Skating Club members had their share of them as the New Zealand Speed Skating Road, Track and Marathon Championships rolled on at Jubilee Stadium yesterday.

For the indoor track event of the championships, which started on Thursday afternoon, club spokesman Ken Smith had predicted that while a lot of the attention would naturally fall on the senior champions in Christchurch's Ollie Jones and Timaru's Nicole Begg, it would often be the junior races which would entertain.

"Some of the smaller, shorter events are more exciting racing."

To that end, it was Whanganui's Chase Morpeth who was fantastic in the Juvenile boys 400m final, setting a new record time for not only the nationals but also for that distance in all New Zealand indoor 400m events.

"And of course, he won it by a country mile," said Smith.

Coached by his father, Morpeth got the good news about the overall record later in the day.

"I knew I had the nationals record at prizegiving; then when everyone had left, the official came up and said congratulations [for NZ record].

"We pretty much train every night."

Like Renee Tears in the road events at Kowhai Park, Morpeth had taken full advantage of having the Rivercity tour races in November as preparation for the nationals, held in the same locations with predominantly the same opposition.

Hoping to win the overall aggregate for his age group across the three national events, Morpeth had a two-point lead by yesterday afternoon and was looking forward to the Cemetery Circuit racing tomorrow.

In addition, it was a good comeback to competition for 2014 world masters marathon silver medallist Krystine Davies, who set a new national record in the Masters Ladies 3000m, which included beating the previous record holder in South Canterbury's Leah Caldwell.

Not surprisingly, Jones went out and set a new fastest time for the Senior men's 1500m, while Smith said that Begg continues to "clean up" the Senior women's.

However, Whanganui's Melissa White also performed well in the division, coming second to Begg in the 3000m and third in the 1500m behind Begg and Valley Inline's Georgia Hurley.

Whanganui's Andrew Jones was also second in the Senior men's 300m time trials on Thursday.

Josh Valentine won the Primary boys 400m final, where teammate Lucas Hodgson was third, competing at his first New Zealand championships.

Stefan Tears continues to have a competitive rivalry with Timaru's Nick Farmer in the Intermediate men's grade, finishing second to him in the 1500m for another 1-2 finish.

"Though Nick's a little bit faster, Stefan's closing in with every race," said Smith.

The indoor events will conclude today with more relay finals, with the Cemetery Circuit on Sunday.