Cyclists’ third title

Press, 29 June 1987, Page 36

Cyclists’ third title

PA ' . ■ - Levin The Southern Districts No. 1 team turned on a brilliant display to win its third consecutive national cycling teams time-trial championship at Levin during the week-end. The combination of lan Richards, Mike Griffiths, Paul < ; Leitch, f i Tony Graham and Stu Williams, representing the Auckland centre, finished in 50min Bs, only one second outside the record for the 40km course, to win the Hope Gibbons Shield.

Southern Districts were unlucky not to have set new times as they lost their star rider, lan Richards, with a puncture about 15km from the finish.- . '

Teams from the Auckland centre dominated the event with Point Chevalier finishing second in 51.37, Nelson third on 52.44 and Southern Districts No. 2 fourth.

The Southern Districts team was always in command in spite of a strong performance from the unseeded Point Chevalier. The loss of Richards at such a critical stage was disastrous, according to the team’s manager, Chris Whitely. He was confident the record would have been broken in spite of the cold and drizzly conditions if Richards had been able to continue

i The Nelson club combination of Craig Saunders, Robert Ford, Warwick Spence, Jason Craig ■and Andrew Lowe won the novice title, defeating ■Tarini Akarana, of Auckland, decisively by a 37s margin. Another Auckland team. Southern Districts, was in third place.

Hope Gibbons national teams time-trial results: Southern Districts No. 1 (Auckland centre) I. Ricnards, M. Griffiths, A. Graham, P Deitch, S. Williams, 50mm Bs, L Point Chevalier (Auck-‘

land) G. Miller, E. Hughes, C. Drake, T. Carter, .A- Parker 51.37, 2; Nelson (Nelson-Marl-borough centre) G; Fraine, J. Matthews, M. Glover, P. Jordon, T. Lillerby, 52.13, 3; Southern Districts No. 2 (Auckland) J. Green, R. Dalton, A. Hickey, R. Reid, K., Bartley, 52.44, 4; Palmerston North (West Coast North Island centre) R. Nevatt, ,S._ Imrie, J. Octoeman, D; Lynch, D. Findlay, 52.46, 5; Stratford (W.C.N.1.) B. Cox, G. Cox, G. Adlam, B. Jordon, C. Forsyth, 53.06, 6. : /•' National novice ' teams time-trial. £ Nelson (Nelson-Marl-borough centre) C. Saunders, R. Ford, W. Spence, J.; Craig; A. Lowe, 21.51, 1; Tarinj Akarana (Auckland) D. Maf tin, 1 Alex Brown, Adam Brown, B. Peglar, B. Matthews, 22.28, 2; Southern Districts (Auckland) G. O’Reilly, M. Fell, S. James, A. Wishart, W. Winnia, 22.38, 3; Hawera (West Coast North Island centre) A. Kerrisk, K. Phillips, C. Barnsley, W. Clark, C. Whiting, 22.39, 4; Masterton, G. Bailey, C. Lambert, J. Brown, B. Skßride, N. Bryce, 23.33, 5;