The small Wairarapa contingtent did the province proud at the national road cycling championships in Nelson last week.
Andrew Linton won a silver medal in the men's Masters 5 grade, Sheri Wales two bronze medals in the women's Masters 3 grade and Peter James battled illness in finishing a creditable ninth
in his men's Masters 4 event.
Linton had no illusions at the difficult task facing him in his race 84km race over a circuit which included a testing climb and a technical down hill section.
Up against quality opposition his plan was to sit in and not work too hard over the first few laps but, at the same time, to chase down any breaks to keep himself in contention for a major placing.
After four laps, however, Linton was feeling strong enough to attempt a couple of break aways himself, efforts which took their toll on lap five when he lost ground on the hill climb and had to work hard to get back on. From there it was a case of waiting for the final sprint and Linton was a in a five-man rush to the finish line, ending up second behind Paul Lundun.
Sheri Wales was attending her first nationals and was third in both the time trial and the 64km road race., results which followed on wins in championship races held by the Masterton club and the Wellington centre.
Reflecting on her road race performance Wales said she didn't have the legs to stay in touch with the leaders on one of the hill climbs and while she recovered her composure she was unable to catch the two front runners.
Peter James also had excellent lead-up form to the nationals but he was struck down by a virus and, not surprisingly, was unable to produce his best form there.His 84km race saw three riders break away on the first lap and much as some of the bunch tried to chase them down they were unable to do so.In the circumstances the ninth placing of James was creditable, to say the least.
