Whanganui's speed skating team won the 2025 Unity Trophy for the first time in their history at the New Zealand Road and Flat Track Championships.
Whanganui's speed skating team won the 2025 Unity Trophy for the first time in their history at the New Zealand Road and Flat Track Championships.
The Wanganui Speed Skating team have had a bright start to the year, claiming the Unity Trophy for the first time, breaking records along the way.
The Unity Trophy is awarded for total points won from individual results of all skaters over the road and flat track events at the New Zealand Road & Flat Track Championships & Marathon.
Whanganui had 18 speed skaters at this year’s event held in Palmerston North and Whanganui in January.
The club won more than 25 individual titles and four indoor relay titles.
Wanganui Speed Skating vice president Scott Morpeth said the team’s start to the year had been impressive.
National champion Jones broke the long-standing national record in the senior men’s 15km elimination category, originally set by Kalon Dobbin in 2001 with a 24m 30.36s.
Jones won in 24m 26.79s.
He was proud to take that record title and surpass a New Zealand icon in inline and ice skating.
“It doesn’t get much better - I’ve been in the sport for over 15 years and to get that record in particular was nothing short of amazing,” Jones said.
“It takes a great deal of skill, determination and luck. Fortunately for me, I had that throughout the year and also on the day.”
Whanganui's multiple national title winner Andrew Jones has claimed the new national record in the 15km elimination race, which was previously set in 2001 by Kalon Dobbin
Jones' focus has now shifted to the 2025 World Speed Skating Championships held in China in September.
Another stand-out performer at the championships was Micky Zhang who competed in the junior men’s grade.
Zhang won five gold medals, a silver and two bronze, as well as breaking several junior men’s records.
He followed up his performances at the recent New Zealand Bank Tracked Championships in Timaru - finishing with a clean sweep of five golds.
Whanganui’s junior girls Sophie Liang and Tazia Parker also brought home medals.
Liang won three golds, one silver and broke two national records in the 100m road sprints and the 300m indoor time trial.
Parker won four golds medals, three silvers and the overall aggregate along with the prestigious Oscar award for a single outstanding performance.
Morpeth said speed skating was a lesser-known sport but was growing over time.
“It is a great sport, it is not that well-known but we keep plugging away to try and get more skaters but they come and go like any sport,” he said.
“You need a good head on your shoulders, it is a tough sport to be good at because it requires a lot of training and you’ve got to be technically really good - every step taken has got to be as efficient as possible.”
Nearly 25% of the competitors at the nationals were Whanganui athletes.
Morpeth said the popularity of the sport and success of the club in a small city was down to several factors.
“It’s coaching, if you have a passionate person in the drivers seat, that goes a long way to having a successful club,” Morpeth said.
“We are very lucky in Whanganui because our businesses shut early so we have access to their car park but in big cities like Auckland and Wellington their car parks don’t shut until 8pm so young kids can’t get on the track - it is too late.
“Being a smaller city, we have access to some great training facilities which are available to us.
“We don’t have travelling problems; some skaters in Auckland travel and hour and a half to skate which is ridiculous.”
The club will continue to train as winter approaches and the season ends.
