Cycling: Godfrey creams Criterium

Sarah Ulmer during yesterday's Criterium Championships.

Hayden Godfrey won a lightning-fast New Zealand National Criterium Championship last night on Auckland's North Shore.

Godfrey, a member of the recent World Cup winning team in Manchester, timed his sprint effort to perfection to pick up his first National Criterium title.

Competitors knew that with the Commonwealth Games cycling team announcement (in January 2006) fast approaching, they have a limited amount of opportunities to impress the selectors.

Bike NZ will be choosing riders to head to Melbourne next March from a 'long list' of nearly 50 names. With so many in contention for the Games, the pressure was on.

Takapuna's main drag of Hurstmere Road played host to this year's high-speed event, the course designed to allow spectators to see racers flash past every 30 seconds.

Despite heavy showers throughout the day, which caused frequent crashes during supporting events, the men's race was run under clear skies.

The race was peppered with a series of ultimately futile attacks from members of New Zealand's junior world championship winning team pursuit squad, which kept the race speed at an extremely high 51km/h average.

National road champion Gordon McCauley also tried to escape the peleton, again to no avail.

With everyone together for the final lap, Hayden Godfrey emerged from the final bend to steam down the home straight a full bike length ahead of Tim Gudsell.

McCauley completed the podium in third place.

"I'm pretty happy with the result," Godfrey said. "It means I can wear the National Champions jersey when I race in America next year."

In the elite women's race, Sarah Ulmer looked set to add the championship to her already outstanding curriculum vitae.

Riding strong with a small group containing Marina Duvnjak and Carissa Wilkes ahead of the main field, she suffered a puncture with just two-and-a-half laps to go.

Race rules meant that she was unable to take a 'lap out' for a wheel change, as can happen if a rider punctures earlier in the race. Instead, so close to the finish, she had to get a new wheel from the pit mechanics before trying to catch up with the speeding pack.

It was an impossible task but to the delight of watching fans she carried on riding what almost amounted to a lap of honour to the biggest cheer of the night.

Wilkes and Duvnjak pushed on to sprint it out for the title; an elated Duvnjak edging across the line in first spot. Twenty seconds behind, Jo Kiesanowski won the bunch sprint for third position.

"I'm so stoked," Duvnjak said. "Once we saw Sarah had to stop we thought 'just go for it'."

Despite the curious sight of local bar and club goers mingling with elite cyclists and their supporters, organiser Peter Ulmer proclaimed the night a success.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY