By Jonathan Leask  March 9 2010

Mid Canterbury was well represented by its six strong contingent at the age group track nationals in Invercargill recently.

In the 500m team sprint her and partner Charlotte Kelly came second in the final after qualifying second fastest.

It was a similar story in the 3000m team pursuit where her composite team of Holly Speer and Elizabeth Steel qualified third fastest, and maintained that position in the final.

In the 6km scratch race she finished a creditable sixth, and managed a seventh in the sprint race quarter-finals.

In the Keirin heat she finished fifth and in the final was eighth home while it was a ninth in the point's race and tenth in the time trial.

Ferguson was also in the women's 2000m individual pursuit but didn't qualify for the finals.

Mid Canterbury had two riders in the under 17 boys' competition with Daniel Rafferty and Ollie Redmond.

Rafferty started out with the sprint race where he qualified sixth fastest and made it through to the semi-finals.

Both cyclists entered into the 500m time trial with Rafferty's track experience guiding him to a fifth place finish and Redmond finished further back in the field crossing 23rd.

The pair were drawn in separates heats in the 515m scratch race with Redmond finishing a disappointing sixth in a strong heat while Rafferty managed to finish third in his heat before lifting in the quarters to finish second fastest.

The semi-final was a different story, with Rafferty finishing fifth and missing out on the final.

Rafferty then combined with fellow Mid-South Canterbury cyclists Dylan Kennett and Ryan Miller to qualify second overall in the 750m team sprints.

Redmond's composite team of Tasman riders Callum Saunders and Daniel Ellison finished a spirited eighth fastest.

Rafferty and company then turned it on in the final to outsprint their Canterbury counterparts to win the team sprint.

The result was an exceptional one for Rafferty but was just one of five golds for his 15 year old team-mate Kennett, who won five of his six events.

Harriet Sutton began the nationals with an exceptional seventh place finish in the under 15 women's 500m time trial.

The 200m derby saw her finish second in the heats and third in the semi-final but narrowly missed qualifying for the final.

In the scratch race final she had another strong ride to finish eighth.

Josh Connor and Brendan Whalley finished close together in the middle of the under 15 boys field in the time trial.

Over the 500m race Whalley came 15th with Connor two places back in 17th.

Whalley also finished fifth in the point's race heats in a strong field of nine riders and managed 11th in the final.

Both Whalley and Connor had tough heats in the 200m derby to miss progressing to the quarters.

It was a similar tale for the pair in the 2000m scratch heats but Connor managed to progress to the final where he finished sixth.