Paula Tesoriero takes home three medals

Its been a very successful campaign for Wellington Paralympian Vegan cyclist Paula Tesoriero at the recent Paralympics. Her plan to concentrate on her specialty event paid off with the gold in the 500 metres time trial, a new world record (43.3 secs) and she also come away with the bronze in the 3000 metres pursuit, and completely unexpectedly, the road time trial !

It wasnt all beer and skittles though as a crash on her gold medal warm down lap could have scuttled the rest of her campaign. Her helmet did its job and Paula lived to go on and get the two bronzes.

Paula's coach Simon Crumpton was trying to keep us in the loop with updates to his his blog, but struck problems when he tried to log on and found the interface all in chinese!
http://simonscrumpets.blogspot.com/

A few people have asked when Paula is returning to New Zealand after her triple medal success at the Paralympics. There is an open invitation to all family, friends, and colleagues to see her at the airport when she lands on Friday 19 September.

Paula lands in Auckland at 08:45 am (Flight NZ 38) and in Wellington at 11:30 am (Flight NZ421).

A final reminder - friends and fans can vote for Paula on the TVNZ site http://olympicoutlander.tvnz.co.nz/ You’ll go in for a chance to win an Mitsubishi Outlander, and the top scoring competitor gets one also.

Women's 500M Time Trial Finals (Lc3-4/Cp 3)

1 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) 0.43.3
2 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) 0.00.5
3 Jayme Paris (Australia) 0.01.2
4 Jane Armstrong (Australia) 0.02.1
5 Qi Tang (China) 0.02.6
6 Allison Jones (USA) 0.03.1
7 Susan Van Staden (South Africa) 0.03.8
8 Barbara Buchan (USA) 0.03.8
9 Raquel Acinas (Spain) 0.05.4
10 Zhifeng Niu (China) 0.05.7


300 metres pursuit

1 Barbara Buchan (United States of America) CP3 4.33.46 93.560 4.15.848
2 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) LC3 4.19.40 100.00 4.19.396
3 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) LC3 4.26.08 100.00 4.26.080
4 Jayme Paris (Australia) CP3 4.44.94 93.560 4.26.587


Road time trial

1 Barbara Buchan (United States Of America) CP3 42.29 94.919 44:45.2
2 Allison Jones (United States Of America) LC3 2.14 100 44:42.9
3 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) LC3 2.32 100 45:00.9
4 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) LC3 3.10 100 45:38.2
5 Qi Tang (People's Republic of China) LC3 4.55 100 47:23.6
6 Raquel Acinas (Spain) LC3 5.02 100 47:30.5
7 Zhifeng Niu (People's Republic of China) LC3 6.17 100 48:45.6
8 Jayme Paris (Australia) CP3 7.42 94.919 52:51.8
9 Susan Van Staden (South Africa) LC3 7.47 100 50:15.3
10 Jane Armstrong (Australia) LC3 7.59 100 50:27.7


http://www.stuff.co.nz/4685504a1823.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4688258a6033.html

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/sep08/paralympics08/?id=stages

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There are many brash generalizations I can make about riding on the Gold Coast.

1. I was the only person I saw on a bike with a fluro vest and/or a flashing light.
2. The roads in town are great with dedicated cycling lanes.
3. The roads out of town were rough as guts and I felt like I could get bounced off descending down the 12-15% hills.
4. The drivers in the country areas really gas it. Lots of them in those v8 utes. To my surprise there were hardly any SUVs over there, compared to NZ!
5. There is not half as much glass on the roads there as there is in NZ.
6. Roadkill was sparse. One snake and some furry brown unidentified critter. I think NZ must be the road-kill capital of the world.
7. The traffic lights are appalling. Seemed to be every 1km at their peak!

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Ritchey Breakaway

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