Long trek pays off for young riders

Broadgreen Intermediate cyclist Escher Laufkotter made the best possible start to the South Island Track Champs at the Invercargill Velodrome.

The 12-year-old won the opening event at the two-day meet, the U13 boys 250 metres, in record time.

“He took 0.55 seconds off the national mark, and they were in cool conditions not the warm tracks which are more conducive to fast times. It was a great experience riding on the boards down there,” says his father Felix, who was the team mechanic for the road trip.

Escher went on to complete a clean sweep – winning two scratch races and a point-a-lap event to claim gold in the omnium which is across the four events.

“He’s tall and powerful for his age,” quips Felix, whose daughter Amelie also performed well.

The Nayland College student racked up a string of placings in the U15 girls’ events.
She then joined her brother and Waimea College pair Noah Eden and Lucas Ippolito in the U16 boys 2000m team pursuit.

The quartet duly won but because they weren’t all from the same school, they were declared a composite team.

“So that meant we didn’t get a gold medal or even a certificate,” says Noah.
Earlier, the 14-year-old and Lucas thought they had won the U16 boys 500m team sprint and celebrated by having something to eat before competing as part of the composite quartet.

“Then we find out later it was only a qualifying race for the final,” reveals Noah.
The public address system was calling for Waimea to get to the start line, which meant a very quick gear change to their bikes.

They duly beat Southland team James Hargest College again to strike gold.
Another strike was to come, delaying the team’s return to Nelson.

“A duck strike hit the plane in Invercargill which meant they were a day late getting home,” confirms Felix.

The four track cyclists plan to head back to Southland for the nationals in March 2026.