Cycling: Dawkins smashes record

Southland star Eddie Dawkins smashed his New Zealand record with a world class performance to highlight the opening night of the New Zealand track cycling championships in Invercargill last night.

Dawkins, 20, clocked 1:01.524 to win the men's 1000m time trial, taking 6/10ths of a second off the national record he set a year ago.

His time was among the fastest in the world this year, bettered by only two riders in UCI World Cup events this year.

World pursuit champion Alison Shanks showed she also has plenty of speed when she took out the 500m time trial when she edged national sprint champion Natasha Hansen (Canterbury) with a superb ride.

Dawkins, who won the sprint honours at the recent Beijing World Cup, produced a stunning performance last night to thrill the home crowd.

"I haven't ridden that well for a year and so I really wanted to pull out a big ride tonight, especially in front of the home crowd," Dawkins said.

"The training has been going really well. And I was really pleased with the performance in Beijing.

"I thought I might not have to do the kilo anymore but I guess after this they will want me to," Dawkins joked.

He has set his sights on the upcoming world champs and selection to the Commonwealth Games.

"Anything is possible - 1:01 at the age of 20 is not bad. It was pretty pleasing and encouraging."

While she's currently the world's best in the endurance event, Shanks gained real satisfaction from taking out the raw sprint event.

"After all the endurance mileage we were unsure where my top end was at, and it's good to know we still have some. I am really rapt in that," Shanks said.

Hansen led Shanks through the halfway point by half a second but the world champion showed her strength to come home in 36.108s, with her Canterbury opponent 2/10ths of a second behind.

Levin teenager Gemma Dudley, who won four medals in the world junior championships two years ago, finished third as the only other rider under 37 seconds, while renowned road rider Jo Kiesanowski (Canterbury) showed impressive speed to finish fourth.