Ney 12th in junior time trial at worlds

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Former Gisborne Boys’ High School student Matthew Ney has continued to show he has what it takes to compete with the world’s best cyclists.

Ney represented Canada in two races at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow last week with his best result being 12th in the junior individual time trial.

His first and lesser favoured event was the 127-kilometre junior road race.

The challenging course saw less than half the 154 entrants cross the finish line and was won by Danish rider Albert Philipsen.

Ney finished in a large group 12 minutes 29 seconds behind and was placed 46th.

On Sunday, Ney raced the 22.8 km junior individual time trial.

Only last month he claimed the Canadian title in the same event by one-tenth of a second.

The course in Glasgow featured a flat first 10 km, followed by an undulating 11km and ended with a climb to the finish that included a short 11 percent gradient.

The winner was Australian Oscar Chamberlain with Ney finishing 1 minute 22.49 seconds behind.

Meanwhile, Matthew’s older brother Josiah has qualified for the 2023 World Triathlon Age-Group Championships being contested in Pontevedra, Spain, next month.

Ney, a former Tairāwhiti Rising Legends recipient, will be representing Canada in the under-23 race.