Cycling: 16-year-old Jorja Swain impresses on Tour of Northland

Whangarei's Jorja Swain impressed on the BDO Tour of Northland. Photo / Andrew Johnsen

Young Whangarei cyclist Jorja Swain impressed on the 359km BDO Tour of Northland, winning her age group.

The 16-year-old only recently took up cycling but that inexperience didn't show as she completed the race in 11:06:26 after a rough final leg from Dargaville to Whangarei.

The final leg took its toll on much of the field as they battled strong crosswinds.

Roman van Uden took out the general classification by one second over Josh Kuysten in 9:35:59.

Matthew Markby was Northland's best finisher in 11th (9:52:38) while Kurt Coetzee also had a top-15 finish, coming second in the Junior male category behind Alex Williams.

Swain said it was a tough end to an enjoyable week.

"It was pretty good, I really enjoyed it. The first couple of days were awesome but the last one wasn't so good," she said.

"The crosswind out of Dargaville made the last leg really tough. I'm only small, I weigh about 45kg so it made it really hard for me to keep up with the bunch and I fell off early on."

Swain was the fifth fastest female across the general classification after starting the final leg in third.

She said she's only just taken up the sport full time but has plans to do more rides in the next 12 months.

"I only really took up cycling in December. My boyfriend (Kurt) is really into it and I thought it would be good to get into it. I had been doing triathlons and duathlons before but this was my first big ride.

"I had heard a lot about the Tour from the people that do group rides in Northland since quite a few of them were doing it and thought I'd give it a go.

"I'm definitely going to do the Tour of Northland again next year but first I have the Age Group Road National Championships in Carterton next month."