The race is tight for Gold at Oceania's
With two days of competition down and only a hand full of events left who will take victory in the 2017 Oceania Inline Speed Championship?
Inline speed skaters from all over Australia and New Zealand arrived in Brisbane to go head to head for their country, glory and the gold!
Pauline Robertson, Head of the Speed Branch for Skate Australia, opened the events on Sunday 16th of April and with skinsuits on, skates laced up and helmets fastened the racing commenced.
Brisbane turned it on with clear skies and sunshine, while skaters
battled it out in over sixty events for the first two days of racing.
Amid the blood, sweat and tears both Australia and New Zealand have bagged plenty of medals.
The President of Skate Australia and the Chief Referee for the event, Karen Doyle, said the competition has been "excellent".
"There have been some very close and exciting finishes,"Karen said.
"From an officiating perspective we have been impressed by the sportsmanship of all the competitors."
At the end of racing on Sunday the Kiwi's just beat out the Aussie's for Gold 26 to 24, but the visitors being left in the dust for the silver, 35 to 15 and bronze, 24 to 18.
MEDAL TALLY
Australia GOLD - 24 SILVER - 35 BRONZE - 24
New Zealand GOLD - 26 SILVER - 15 BRONZE - 18
India GOLD - 0 SILVER - 0 BRONZE - 1
Logan City Speed's Fab Five contributed to the Aussie's tally, earning a total of 17 medals; 11 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze.
Robert Cook and Se Min Lee are leading the charge with give gold medals each.
Fellow club member Lynley Crawford, selected to skater for New Zealand, earned 6 medals for the Kiwis, 3 gold and 3 silver.
Mrs Robertson said the competition has always been "important" for the Oceania region, but has new significance.
"Now that speed skating has been included in the Youth Olympics [Oceania's] will be even more important going forward," she said.
Mrs Doyle agrees the future for Oceania looks bright as a transitional event towards the Youth Olympic Games.
Events will finish up on Wednesday with the marathon events. Will the Australian team rise to the challenge to win?
Photos courtesy of DreamSport Photography. To purchase photos: https://www.facebook.com/DreamSportPhotography/
To view the full race results and details click here.
