Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Sport

Wanganui pair trail champion

By Staff Reporter
Whanganui Chronicle·
19 Jan, 2014 08:05 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
1, 2, 3: Timaru's Nicole Begg (left) has Wanganui's Jessica van Bentum and Rebecca Smith chasing her hard this summer in the regional speed skating events. Photo/Supplied

1, 2, 3: Timaru's Nicole Begg (left) has Wanganui's Jessica van Bentum and Rebecca Smith chasing her hard this summer in the regional speed skating events. Photo/Supplied

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When it comes to competitive speed skating, Wanganui's Jessica van Bentum and Rebecca Smith have only one name ahead of them on the national scene.

The pair both earned podium places for the fourth major event in a row at the Tour of Timaru last week in the women's A grade.

However, for now they must take a back seat to the legend as multiple world senior and junior champion Nicole Begg dominated the tour.

The Timaru professional, 26, won every race on her home course, with van Bentum second overall and Smith third, as they have been in previous events.

Wanganui club spokesman Ken Smith said Begg's chokehold on the top of the dais remains no surprise.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"She is a former world champion and a vastly experienced competitor at senior world championship level.

"Into the second year of her comeback, after a 2010 injury put her out of the sport for two years, Begg is on a mission to re-establish herself at the top of the sport and a pair of teenage up-and-comers were not going to stand in her way."

However, Ken Smith said Van Bentum, 17, and Rebecca Smith, 16, have a primary focus on selection in the 2014 New Zealand junior team off to the world championships, and they were the two top juniors in Timaru "by a clear margin".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Local sprint specialist Dahna Penty got ahead of Smith in three sprints and Analiese Le Roy picked up a second in the 15km elimination.

"But the rest of the 13-stage tour was a Begg/van Bentum/Smith procession."

The other Wanganui skaters on the tour were Nicole Travers and Monique Cleeve, who finished eighth and 13th respectively.

The A grade men's tour was won convincingly by Kapiti's multiple world champion Peter Michael, followed by Antony Nalder of Valley In-line and Kapiti's Josh Whyte.

The Wanganui team's next competition is the NZ Banked Track Nationals on February 15-16, also in Timaru.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Whanganui Chronicle

Coaching guru moves south to take role at Cricket Whanganui

Sport

Rugby: Tough preseason ahead for Steelform Whanganui

Sport

Rugby: Marist Clovers reclaim title with dominant win


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Coaching guru moves south to take role at Cricket Whanganui
Whanganui Chronicle

Coaching guru moves south to take role at Cricket Whanganui

There will not be much 'sitting in the office and looking at a screen'.

20 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: Tough preseason ahead for Steelform Whanganui
Sport

Rugby: Tough preseason ahead for Steelform Whanganui

17 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: Marist Clovers reclaim title with dominant win
Sport

Rugby: Marist Clovers reclaim title with dominant win

17 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP