Kees Duyvestyn and Mary Gray claimed the King and Queen of the Mountain honours in race three of the Midway Hill Climb series on Saturday.
The time trial journeyed from Chingford Park to Waitati and return, featuring two ascents, challenging descents and some flat sections, testing the various skills of the riders.
Duyvestyn hit Waitati in 26min 47sec, with Richard Wansink not far behind, in 26min 58sec and Jacob Grieve posting 27min 3sec.
Grieve poured on the pace on the return leg with a 24min 19sec split, but Duyvestyn's split was 2sec faster, giving the junior rider an overall time of 51min 4sec. Grieve was first senior but second overall in 51min 22sec.
The younger Wansink, John, engaged a conservative strategy and covered the first half of the time trial in 31min 31sec. In the return leg, he posted the fastest split of the day, 20min 41sec, catapulting him into third. Fastest master was Chris Harvey, in 52min 59sec.
Mountain biker Mary Gray, stopping the clock at 1hr 0min 25sec, edged out Ella Harris by 45sec, although Harris claimed the junior women's section.
Harris recently had a curious experience in the national secondary schools hill climb in Auckland in wet conditions. As she progressed rapidly uphill, she completely lost traction in the wet and had to dismount, run her bike to gain momentum and then remount. This affected her placing, dropping her into fourth, but as a triathlete she employed her transition training effectively.
At the same event in Auckland, Ewan Syme won the national under-15 boys title. He posted 1hr 10min 46sec on Saturday. Paula Hasler was fastest masters woman in 1hr 5min 5sec.
Some Otago riders took on the 150km Twizel to Timaru race. Mark Spessot (49) footed it with the eventual winners, Commonwealth Games medallists Marc Ryan, Hayden Roulston and Shane Archbold, finishing eighth overall and winning the masters 3 trophy.
By Jan Brosnahan.
