Whanganui was amongst the medals on the first day of the national speed skating champs.

Numbers may be down but the racing is much more competitive at all levels of the 2021 New Zealand Roller Sports Speed Championships being held in Whanganui.

The first day of the championships kicked off on Tuesday morning, with the New Zealand Road Championships running at Kowhai Park until Wednesday afternoon.

Jubilee Stadium will then host the New Zealand Flat Track Championships from Thursday to Saturday, followed by the marathon events at Manfeild Racetrack, Feilding, on Sunday, January 3.

Event manager Ken Smith said changes had been made to certain age groups for this year's competition, in an effort to match international classes.

"International Juniors, for example, now runs to 18, whereas in the past New Zealand Juniors only ran to 15," Smith said.

"It's quite different, and there's new records and new titles."

Numbers were down on previous years, Smith said, with more than 100 skaters usually taking part in the national championships.

"I think there's about 80 skaters this year, so it's still a full-on nationals. There are good turnouts in the younger classes like Cadet and Junior Girls. I can't really pick anyone to win in any class.

"In the past we've had people coming along who'd been to world championships, and you know everyone will be chasing them, but this year things are much more competitive, right the way through.

"In Timaru a couple of years ago we actually had the current world sprint champion line up at our nationals. He was here on holiday and had brought his skates with him. He slowed down halfway through and looked back to see where everyone was. Needless to say, he won his race."

The first event of the day was the 200 metre individual time trial, which consisted of one lap of the track on the banks of the Whanganui River.

Whanganui was amongst the medals throughout the age groups, with Josh Valentine winning the Cadet Boys and Micky Zhang taking bronze, Paul Cleeve winning the Masters Men, Tazia Parker claiming silver in the Cadet Girls, and Andrew Jones coming home second in the Senior Men.

Melissa Allen and Krystine Davies came second and third respectively in the Masters Ladies event, while Drew Brennan and Chase Morpeth repeated that feat in the Junior Men group.

Other distances on Tuesday included the 1000 metres and 15km elimination race. The heats for the 500 metres begin on Wednesday morning.

Mike Tweed
Whanganui Chronicle 30/12/20