[1] Alison Shanks Alison Shanks pushed her way into the ranks of the best female pursuiters of all time with a record-breaking effort at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill last night.
Shanks produced a stunning 3min 28.475sec effort to claim the title, and shatter the New Zealand residents' record. Her time was more than a second under her previous best, set in winning her world championship title in Poland in 2009.
Coach Craig Palmer said the time would put her into the top six riders in history.
This was followed up with a record performance from team-mate Jesse Sergent who also set a national record in clocking 4min 16.139sec to win the men's 4000m individual pursuit.
It broke his own national record by 0.05sec as he beat team-mate Peter Latham (4:21.483) in the final.
Shanks said she was delighted with the performance which showed she and her team pursuit team-mates were on target leading into next week's World Cup in Colombia and on to next year's Olympics.
"We are not peaking by any means. This shows we have good early-season form and gives us real confidence looking ahead," Shanks said.
"I've spent more time on the road and more time in the gym in the build-up and it shows we are well on track.
The records also fell in the under-19 ranks when Waimate's Dylan Kennett claimed the 1000m time trial. Kennett, who set a national record in winning the individual pursuit on Monday, clocked 1min 3.644sec to claim the kilo time trial, which broke Eddie Dawkins' 2007 mark of 1min 3.700sec.
Auckland's Georgina Wilson, eighth at the world championships in Moscow this year, won the women's under-19 final, clocking 2min 30.257sec, a personal best.
Outstanding Southland-based sprinter Natasha Hansen made it three from three when she came from the rear of the field to dominate the final of the women's keirin after winning the team sprint and the 500m time trial.
She is looking to recover before chasing a national record in the individual sprint tomorrow.
The fans were treated to a star of the future in world junior champion Caleb Ewan, from Australia, who won the under-19 omnium, winning four of the six events including all three last night - the individual pursuit, scratch race and time trial. He finished clear of Nelson's Kristoff Ford.
Te Awamutu's Hayden McCormick rounded out the evening with a brilliant performance, the only rider to lap the field in winning the under-19 points race over 20km.
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