Canty Hopes High For N.Z. Cycling Honours

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31540, 30 November 1967, Page 17

Canty Hopes High For N.Z. Cycling Honours

(From Our Cycling Reporter) WANGANUI. This season, perhaps more than in any other year, Canterbury cyclists have a very good chance of success in the New Zealand junior (50 miles) and boys (15 miles) road cycling championships.

The races will be held on the Springvale circuit, near Wanganui, tomorrow, with the senior 100-mile championship to follow on Saturday.

West Coast-North Island competitors usually dominate the boys’ race, although last year the big Waikato boy, R. Coker, broke this stranglehold. This season Canterbury possesses one of the favourites for the event, the 15-year-old P. D. Brydon, of Rangiora. Brydon has already shown his mettle in the national

track championships and has the speed, staying power and level head to add a road medal to that be won on the track. He has beaten all the likely South Island competitors and his main opposition will come from the W.C.N.I. riders, A. Sharrock and A. Hermond. They have been dominant in recent races, and if the West Coast-North Island officials have schooled these youngsters as well as they usually do, Brydon will face a stern battle. Although they were not prominent in the Wellington centre championships, two Blenheim boys, D. Palatchie and N. Crafar, have produced good performances, while Southland’s E. Thurlow showed some speed in the track championships when finishing behind Brydon. The Westport rider, J. A. Drummond, will give Canterbury a useful second string, and G. M. Howes and D. N. McEvoy complete a handy team from the province. The Canterbury junior champion, B. G. Stockwell, will meet his strongest opposition from W.C.N.I. also. M. F. Vertongen, twice the boys’ champion, is one of the most

devastating sprinters in any class in New Zealand and is the logical favourite. Stockwell* however, outpaced the New Zealand senior champion, G. R. Hill, in last Saturday’s Christchurch-to-Timaru race, and it will be surprising if he does not figure prominently in the finish at Wanganui.