Day One of the 2015 South African National Track Championships at the Hector Norris Park Cycling Track was an exciting affair as a number of medals were handed out along with a handful of new national records when the five day long competition started in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The Hector Norris is an outdoor track which means that the weather is always going to play a role in the racing and Tuesday was no different as wind was a factor during the morning session and did influence times to a degree but the afternoon session was much calmer and the best times were recorded during the later session.
The day produced four new South African records as well as an unofficial World Record and Cycling south Africa’s Co-Ordinator of the Junior Track Programme Annerine Wenhold explains that it is quite difficult to judge as to whether the World Record will stand or not.
With her eyes set on a clean sweep of gold medals at the 2015 South African National Track Championships track ace Maroesjka Matthee started brightly claiming gold in the Elite Women’s Individual Pursuit on Day One of the champs at the Hector Norris Park Cycling Track in Johannesburg on Tuesday. // Photo: craigdutton.com.
“There were some incredibly quick times during the afternoon on day one with Grenville Scullard breaking a World Record but we have to still get that result confirmed due to the fact that we don’t have the sort of equipment that you will see overseas.
“There are no starting blocks so it makes it a bit more complicated when it comes to world records, so without the proper equipment we will have to wait and see,” Wenhold mentioned. It was a good day out for Track superstar Maroeskja Matthee who finished atop of the podium in the Elite Women’s Sprint Race and she was strong on the opening day however Wenhold feels that she was pushed hard by some up-and-coming youngsters during the sprint events.
“Maroeskja was expected to win and she rode well but it is exciting to see a new bunch of girls coming through, with the likes of Bernette Beyers and Odette van Deventer really giving her a good run for her money!” Wenhold added.
One of the features of the opening day of racing was that the races were closely fought and throughout the men’s sprint events it seemed that everyone had a chance to win which bodes well for the rest of the event according to Wenhold.
“Tuesday saw a lot of sprint qualifiers for the men and although these races are obviously not finals they were very close and what was encouraging for the whole championships was that there was not one stand-alone rider that dominated the racing.
“Hopefully this trend of tight racing will continue into the rest of the competition so that the spectators will be in for some thrilling races,” she added expectantly.
South African Track Cycling legend Grenville Scullard was the man of the day as he beat his own South African national record in the 50-54 Men’s time Trial (500m) and in the process set an unofficial world record.
More information on the SA Track Champs and the event’s full programme can be found at http://www.cyclingsa.com/2015-sa-track-champs
SUMMARY OF RESULTS – SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY ONE
Elite Men Individual Pursuit (4000m)
1.Hb Kruger 4:50.33
2.Jean Spies 4:53.88
3.Stephanus Van Heerden 4:54.31
Elite Women Individual Pursuit (3000m)
1.Maroesjka Matthee 4:09.26
2.Elfrieda Wolfaardt 4:16.60
3.Ilze Bole 4:18.03
Junior Women Individual Pursuit (2000m)
1.Danielle Van Niekerk 2:57.67
2.Jessica Gerber 3:09.02
3.Melissa Schoonbee 3:18.15 35-39
Men Time Trial (1000m)
1.Gert Fouche 1:10.44
2.Michael Oosthuysen 1:10.56
3.Chrispin Fourie 1:12.89 35-39
Women Individual Pursuit (2000m)
1.Suzan Bowman 2:55.40
2.Monique King 3:00.86
Under 16 Boys Individual Pursuit (2000m)
1.Devin Short 2:35.30
2.Daniyal Matthews 2:36.50
3.David Kilian 2:37.50
Under 10 Boys Time Trial (500m)
1.Zakariyya Martin 50.00
2.Connor Luck 50.68
3.Nathan Hattingh 51.86
Under 12 Boys Time Trial (500m)
1.Chanton Perrins 49.04
2.Etienne Kros 52.34
Under 14 Boys Time Trial (500m)
1.Caleb Buchel 39.04
2.Imtiyaaz van der Hoven 42.31
3.Nathan Badenhorst 42.76
40-44 Men Time Trial (750m)
1.Jacques Fullard 51.65
2.Moses Venceslau 54.73
3.Hylton Belitzky 54.88
45-49 Men Time Trial (750m)
1.Almo Pretorius 51.29 (New Sa Record)
2.Martin Van Wyk 52.32
3.Andrew Rich 52.61
50-54 Men Time Trial (500m)
1.Grenville Scullard 34.33 (New SA And World Record*)
2.Timothy Abbot 34.91
3.Bruce Viljoen 38.04
55-59 Men Time Trial (500m)
1.Gerrit Schepers 35.01 (New SA Record)
2.Lee Kane 36.24
3.Glen Heuvel 36.58
60-64 Men Time Trial (500m)
1.Noel Ziady 40.26
2.Johan Spies 40.74
65-69 Men Time Trial (500m)
1.Wendell Bole 39.04 (New SA Record)
70-74 Men Time Trial (500m)
1.Maurice Connor 42.73
75-79 Men Time Trial (500m)
1.Albert Fryer 46.73
40-44 Women Time Trial (500m)
1.Amanda Wray 42.93
2.Elisa Gianchino 39.40
45-49 Women Time Trial (500m)
1.Annelise Pretorius 42.42
50-54 Women Time Trial (500m)
1.Val Scheppel 43.89
55-59 Women Time Trial (500m)
1.Diane Scullard 43.40
60-64 Women Time Trial (500m)
1.Ilna Lemmer 48.77
Under 16 Girls Time Trial (500m)
1.Ashleigh Parsons 43.37
2.Nikita Oosthuysen 49.92
Under 14 Girls Time Trial (500m)
1.Simone Faber 47.00
2.Kelsey van Schoor 47.18
3.Sarah Kilian 47.60
Under 12 Girls Time Trial (500m)
1.Chante Olivier 44.32
Under 10 Girls Time Trial (500m)
1.Kita Uys 49.32
2.Kyla Uys 56.32 * – WORLD RECORD TO BE CONFIRMED
