6 Sep 2012

Cyclists win silver in time trial event

5:34 am on 6 September 2012

Southland tandem cyclists Philippa Gray and Laura Thompson have claimed a silver medal at the London Paralympics.

The win on Wednesday brought New Zealand's medal haul to 13, topping the 12-medal total in Beijing four years ago. A team of 24 New Zealand athletes are competing at this year's Games.

The pair took the chequered flag in the 24km individual B time trial at Brands Hatch raceway in a time of 35 minutes 7.68 seconds. They were just half a second behind the gold medal-winning crew from the Netherlands.

Gray and Thompson now have the full set of Paralympic medals, with the gold and the bronze they won at the velodrome in the individual B pursuit and B time trial earlier in the Games.

Hand cyclist Sue Reid from Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains finished just outside the medals in fourth in the H3 time trial.

Northland's Fiona Southorn was fifth on the 16km course in the C 4-5 road race.

Nathan Smith of Taranaki finished 11th of 14 riders contesting medals in his C3 individual time trial.