JOHN BISSET/Stuff
Young speed skater Brayden Teague impressed by winning an open men’s 5000m race at the weekend. He is pictured competing in the Southern Marathon Series at Timaru’s Levels raceway on August 27, 2023.
A 12-year-old boy upstaged his much older rivals to win the open men’s 5000m race at the South Canterbury indoor speed skating event at the Southern Trust Events Centre in Timaru at the weekend.
Brayden Teague, a cadet grade racer, produced the result of the day on the 100m indoor track as the best of the South Island’s skaters lined up in the warm-up event for the New Zealand indoor champs.
South Canterbury speed skating coach Bill Begg said Brayden had been impressive in the long events all season and was racing well beyond his years.
“On the tight indoor tracks, the young ones can often get around good,” Begg said.
Trailing in the youngster’s wake after 50 laps were Liam Macdonald (Nelson) in second place and Mark MacDonald (Christchurch) in third, with fellow South Cantabrians Callum Sandri in fourth and Daryl Mattingley in fifth.
Brayden also won two titles in the cadet racing as did Callum Sandri, with Zachary Tang taking third placings.
Racing also featured two Chilean masters women, Cami Castro from Christchurch and Mariane Cortes from Timaru, along with senior Dutch woman Aniek Hesselink from Nelson.
However, the open women’s 5000m race went to Blenheim’s Erin Green, who has just returned from the world junior championships in Italy and a season of racing in Europe.
Emily Olthof of Nelson was second, holding off a South Canterbury quartet of Grace Worner of Geraldine, Kyla Beveridge, Shannell Wooding and Lauren Crawford Cave.
South Canterbury’s Tom Crawford got four second placings in the junior men’s.
Blenheim’s Eva Jenkins prevented a South Canterbury clean sweep in the cadet girls, with a third in 300m time trial.
Kyla Beveridge won the 300m time trial and the 1500m, while Lauren Crawford won the 800m and Grace Worner won the 3000m.
Begg said all these races were close and hard fought.
In the masters men, Ricky Purukamu won the 300m time trial and 500m sprint events, while MacDonald won the 1000m and 3000m. Mattingley picked up three silvers and a bronze, as did Aaron Kenton (Ōtautahi Christchurch). Shannell Wooding won the masters women’s events.
In the senior women’s grade, Samantha Clarke was dominant with a string of top performances, winning the 800m, 1500m and 3000m and adding a silver in the 300m time trial, which was won by Tiara Richards (Christchurch) with Hesselink (the Netherlands) third. Clarke also put in a good effort, leading the open women’s 5000m for half the event.
In the juvenile events, Gemma Thornley and Oceania Purukamu won two apiece, with Lilly Rae in the action with silver and bronze. In the boys’ events, Oakley Mattingley won two titles, with Otto Nairn winning the other two and Christchurch clubmate Darcy MacCaughan placing.
Sophie Thornley had to settle for seconds in the primary girls behind Sophie Searle of Blenheim, as did Phoenix Mattingley in the boys behind Sebastian Oliveria of Christchurch.
There were some good performances in the novice events, especially Aijo Sijo. Others to win medals were An-Ge Hu, Naomi and Sinead Henderson-Labacher, Bianka O’Connor, and Hosanna Woods of Geraldine, as well as Mariane Cortes and Sheryl Kortright, both in the novice masters.
