.: RACE RESULTS

Race Report by Sammo Allen

Last Friday night on the bustling streets of Takapuna, Auckland, the battle for the 2007 North Shore City Grand Prix title was decided.

Josh England won the Elite Men's title ahead of a strong field including Adam Coker, Peter Latham, Mike Northey, Clinton Avery and Aaron Strong to name a few. The racing was fast and furious with attacks right from the gun. Clinton Avery was active throughout the race, forcing many of the peleton into the red on the tight and twisty circuit. In the fading light the race came down to a frantic sprint finish with England edging ahead to take the win.

The Elite Woman's race featured none other than current Tour de France Champion and Danish National Champion, Linda Villumsen of T-Mobile, as well as Olympic Champion Sarah Ulmer. Pitted against these two great champions were the who's who of New Zealand's elite including Melissa Holt, Marina Duvnjak, Catherine Cheatley and the Genius paring of Toni Bradshaw and Michelle Hyland. Held under the blazing sun the pace was hot with the bunch blasting past the large crowd gathered on the Takapuna streets.
Attacks were frequent with no break seemingly able to escape the grip of the peleton. Flying into the final few laps it looked like the race would be decided in a sprint finish until Marina Duvnjak stormed away from the peleton. In a flash she built a 15 second lead, pounding the big gear over the cobbled sections. She maintained her frenetic pace soloing to an impressive victory in front of the jubilant crowd. Leading in the bunch was Melissa Holt with resurgent Sarah Ulmer taking third.

In the lead up races Nigel Hunt won the age group section, Taylor Gunman the Under 17 Boys and Sarah Williams the Under 17 Girls.

Thanks must go to the sponsors, celebrities, specators and of course the volunteers who all made this great event possible.

Elite Men

1st Joshua England

2nd Adam Coker

3rd Peter Latham

4th Mike Northey

5th Justin Kerr

6th Chris Macic

7th Aaron Strong

8th Karl Murray

9th Clinton Avery

10th Alex Cull

Elite Women

1st Marina Duvnjak

2nd Melissa Holt

3rd Sarah Ulmer

4th Carissa Wilkes

5th Linda Villumsen

6th Catherine Cheatley

7th Michelle Hyland

8th Toni Bradshaw

9th Gina Waibl

10th Kerri Ann Torckler

Age Group

1st Nigel Hunt

2nd Cameron McMurray

3rd Matt Till

4th Scott Papworth

5th Nathan Bunn

6th Bradley Aldrich

7th Brenton James

8th Andrew McNabb

9th Peter Alder

10th Chris Faithfull

Under 17 Boys

1st Taylor Gunman

2nd Michael Poole

3rd James Northey

4th Matt Justice

5th Harry Oillon

Under 17 Girls

1st Sarah Williams

2nd Nicole Silver

3rd Maddie Oillon

4th Racquel Sheath

5th Libby Morrison