Young South Canterbury speed skaters hunting medals in Australia at Oceania Championships – The Nelson Mail

STU PIDDINGTON

Last updated17:48, April 4 2017

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ

South Canterbury will be well represented at the Oceania championships in Brisbane(from left, at rear) Ella Benson, Sophie Lowen, Keaton Swindells, Jan Kuepper, Leah McDonald and Ariana Snook, (front, from left) Charli Nevin, Roshean O'Connor and Charlotte Clarke.

South Canterbury speed skaters will form the basis of the 26-strong New Zealand team to compete at the 2017 Oceania championships in Brisbane.

Ten junior and cadet skaters from Timaru will be vying for titles over Easter.

Last year in an impressive performance South Canterbury skaters won more Oceaniatitles than the whole Australian team.

It could however be a tougher prospect this year with the Australianshavinghome advantage on the roads of Brisbane.

Also South Canterbury will only have under 20 and under 14 representatives, withsenior sprinter Dale Christofferson away.

Christofferson is in Europe for amonth competing in some big races in France andGermany, plus the Slovenia national championships.

Five of the six junior girls are from South Canterbury, along with the well performed Renee Teers from Wanganui.

Leah McDonald is the defending junior champion over1000m, 10,000m points and marathon and will be favourite again having had some impressive performances in the build-up.

Arianna Snook is another juniorlooking for titles after winning the open 10,000m and20,000m road races at the New Zealand championships in Auckland inJanuary.

Snook is however recovering from a recent compartment syndrome operation on both legs and is not 100 per cent fit but is still likely to be in the mix.

Sophie Lowen is also back after a long term shoulder injury, sustainedfrom a kayaking accident, but after winning threenational titles should also be a good chance of a podium finish.

The Kiwi juniors will face a tougher assignment however as three Australians girls gained valuable experience at last year's junior world championships, while New Zealand had no female representatives.

In the junior men the talented Jan Kuepper should be more competitive as it his second year in the grade.

Keaton Swindells made a clean sweep of the cadet boys' races last year, but the 15-year-old steps up into the junior grade and will face competitors up to fouryears older than himself.

Upper Hutt's Hadley Beech Upper Hutt and Sam Portchfrom Palmerston North will alsorace in the junior men's grade.

In the cadet girls (under 14), Ella Bensonstarts out as favourite after winning two titles last year, with the other title holders moving up into the junior ranks.

Charli NevinandRoshean O'Connor are both determined competitors and could feature prominently in the longer events.

Palmerston North's Serenity Griffith is likely to be a contender in the sprints while three Nelson skaters,Holly Ward, Lydia Stack andOcean Collinson-Smith make up the seven-strong cadet girls team.

Timaru's experienced Bill Begg will coach the team with Rebecca Smith fromWanganui his assistant.

The South Canterbury presence in the team is completedwith managerChristene Swindells and Lisa Snook as her assistant.

-Stuff

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Young South Canterbury speed skaters hunting medals in Australia at Oceania Championships - The Nelson Mail