The Whanganui speed skating team (with coach Gary Clark on far right) have won big at the nationals in Blenheim.
The Whanganui team have returned with a swag of medals from the 2024 New Zealand Speedskating Championships in Blenheim.
More than 110 skaters from across the country battled it out for the year’s top honours in seven age grades.
All Whanganui skaters came away with medals - 19 individual titles on the road and flat track, five relay titles and one marathon title.
Road racing was held over two days at the 465m Athletic Park.
Day one consisted of an individual 200m time trial, followed by 1000m races and a 15km elimination.
Day two brought competition for the 500m, 10km points, 5km points, 3km points and 1.5km points races. Senior and junior relays finished off the outdoor championships event.
Flat track was held indoors at Stadium 2000 and skaters battled for podium finishes, from 300m time trials to the George Hailes Memorial 10km final. Racing in all the grades was exciting and, in a few cases, came down to photo finishes to determine the winner.
The last day of competition was at the Blenheim Go Kart Track for the 42km marathon for the 15-and-over group skaters and the 21km half marathon for the under-15s.
Whanganui’s Johnmen Zhang in the new veteran grade (50 and over) won eight golds, a clean sweep of this grade of four skaters. Scott Morpeth got silvers in the 1000m and 5km road points after Zhang had the sprint for the line each time.
Masters’ men Jerome Allen and Paul Cleeve skated impressively in a field of eight seasoned skaters and came away with three golds, two silvers and two bronzes for Allen and one gold and three bronzes for Cleeve.
Crystle Denbee achieved six silvers in the masters’ women, where she was up against ex-NZ world representative Shannell Wooding from South Canterbury.
Whanganui senior men and NZ world championships representatives Andrew Jones and Chase Morpeth jostled for victories and placings in a smaller field of four. Jones won two golds and two silvers in the road racing. Chase Morpeth won one silver and four bronze medals in the road events and took a clean sweep of the five golds on the flat track, along with the senior men’s aggregate for the combined disciplines.
In the junior ladies class, Tazia Parker, Gabriella Valentine and Keira Brennan raced well over the week.
Their category had 13 talented skaters and the Whanganui competitors stepped up and delivered some outstanding performances.
Parker won five silvers and a bronze, pushing NZ worlds representative Erin Green from Blenhiem to the limit.
Green and Parker were side by side in the final lap in most races, crossing the line with nothing between them.
Gabriella Valentine earned a bronze medal in the 300m time trial.
Cadet Caleb Valentine won two bronze medals in the 200m time trial on the road and the half marathon.
Whanganui also excelled in the team relays on the road and flat track, winning five golds and three silvers.
Team coach Gary Clark said he was happy with the results and the club was now preparing for the Banked Track Nationals in Hamilton on February 3-4.
A low pressure system takes over bringing winds, rain and heat to the district.