Victoria
Saturday brought torrential rains over much of Victoria and you’d have been slightly insane to have gone outside. The smart ones were the riders doing ergo sessions and the trackies racing the Metro and Country Track Championships indoors at DISC.
Matty Lloyd was one of the smart ones. He’s back in town, motivated, and kept that collarbone safe with a 4hr ergo session:
SKCC decided to call off their Sunday criteriums due to an ominous weather forecast but CCCC decided to chance it which attracted small fields. Young gun Jack Cummings continues to tear up the race series with another win at Glenvale as well as a silver in the individual pursuit at the Metro Track Championships (Alex Morgan with the gold).
A group from Bike Gallery rode the 6 summits on Sunday to raise money for water resources in East Africa. Donna Buang, Lake Mountain, Mt Buller, Mt Buffalo, Falls Creek and Mt Hotham – a total of 6525M of climbing in one day. The charity is one which donates 100% of funds raised to their work, with administrative fees etc paid for by private sponsors. Read more about it here.
VIC Race Results:
Victorian Country Track Championships
Victorian Metropolitan Track Championships
CCCC Glenvale Criteriums – 27 Movember 2011
Footscray CC VUT Criteriums – 24 Nov 2011
Hawthorn Summer Criteriums – Nov 23
CCCC Sandown Twitlight Crits – Nov 22
Brunswick Tuesday Night Track – Nov 22
New South Wales
courtesy of John Sunde
Photo courtesy of Nigel: http://www.pbase.com/phototyke
All eyes were on the NSW Cycling Grand Prix Series run on 2 spectacular crit courses in Wollongong and Cronulla Beach at the weekend. After 3 days of torrential rain in Sydney the sun came out to shine on a stellar field of 190 Elite, Women and Masters riders with World Tour riders Chris Sutton and Jeremy Hunt (Team Sky), Graeme Brown and Michael Matthews (Rabobank), and Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil-DCM) the big names on show.
Chris Sutton and Michael Matthews shared a win each but it was 17 year old NSWIS track star Caleb Ewan’s third place in the Wollongong event which caught everyone’s attention. Chris Sutton took the overall Grand Prix series win.
Local club rider Susie Forsyth’s gutsy solo win in the Wollongong womens race was also another popular win. She not only outsmarted the more fancied womens teams but her efforts were also rewarded with a national TV audience thanks to Channel Nine’s live TV coverage. It was a dead heat between Kristy Broun and Jesse Maclean on points score table.
Brief race cam highlights from a GoPro HD Hero2 camera attached to the bike of Caleb Jones, member of Bikebug.com:.
John Forrest did just enough in the two masters races to come out 1 point in front Mark Jewell who made the podium in both events.
Still plenty of Masters racing on with 120 riders competing in the weekly Waratah Masters event at Lansdowne Park with Andrew East winning the A grade event.
Last weeks rain was a major dampener with both Cycle Nation’s popular Tuesday night crit and Randwick Botany’s Saturday racing at Heffron Park being cancelled because of a wet track.
Coming up this week is the 30th Annual Clarence St Cyclery Cup at Dunc Gray Velodrome with Mark Renshaw heading the billing. This is Sydney’s answer to the Melbourne Cup on Wheels, has a tremendous history and is one of the longest running race sponsorship’s in NSW Cycling and boats a stellar list of previous winners
Past Winners
1983 Craig Milton
1984 Washed Out
1985 Joe Buck
1986 Brett Dutton
1987 Washed Out
1988 Washed Out
1989 Grant Fraser
1990 David Spessot
1991 Simon Kersten
1992 Washed Out
1993 Scott McGory
1994 Stephen Pate
1995 Shaun Hopkins
1996 Sean North
1997 Shane Menz
1998 Graeme Brown
1999 Graeme Brown
2000 Ben Kersten
2001 Alex Sommer
2002 Mark Renshaw
2003 Dan O’Callagan
2004 Ben Kersten
2005 Ben Kersten
2006 Ben Kersten
2007 JL Rathbone
2008 JL Rathbone
2009 Mitch Bullen
2010 Scott Mills
2011 David Brown
And in Kiwi News…
Meanwhile across the Dutch, 9000 Kiwi cyclists battled strong winds and 160 gruelling kilometres around Lake Taupo for the 35th Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge one of the largest mass participation cycle events in the Southern Hemisphere.
In a separate event, the Avanti Mens Classic Pure Black Racing rider Michael Torckler outsprinted team mate Mike Northey for line honours
NSW Race Results:
NSW Cycling Grand Prix Results
Waratah Masters CC President’s Plate/Memorial Shield
Heffron Park Real Insurance Summer Series – Washed Out…again
Western Australia
courtesy of Jeff Jorgensen
Photo courtesy of Tony Lendrum Photography
Tour de Perth
A great weekend of racing with a Friday night criterium, Saturday road race and Sunday time trial. All grades from Open to C grade participated. Open featured the Myer Brothers (Garmin Cevelo/Greenedge), Adam Semple (Drapac), AJ Giacoppo (Genesys) and a few up-and-comers. Cam Meyer took out the overall with a dominate performance in all stages. Emma Pooley was scheduled to race the road race, but had to pull out due to illness. However, she did make an appearance to support her fellow Garmin Cervelo teammates.
C grade was an good field with several state U-17′s firing up. The road race was interesting and was interrupted by a family of ducks crossing the road and getting in amongst the peloton. (I happen to have two very small ducklings right beside my wheel at one stage). The under 17′s are a bunch of guns to watch out for in the future.
More photos can be found at Sprint Photography and Loyd Smith Photography.
WA Race Results
Tour de Perth
Masters Criteriums
Upcoming events
Saturday Sand and Sweat Cyclocross series.
Northern Districts Classic Criterium
West Coast Masters Crits
Peel Districts Criterium
Queensland
courtesy of Matt Murray
Balmoral Cycling Club – Murarrie (26-11-2011)
With the road season virtually over and all of the big money summer crits done, only a few remaining local club crits are left to occupy those still dedicated enough to train through the silly season. Balmoral CC’s weekly Murarrie criterium always pulls a crowd, with Brisbane’s finest turning up to race “the Muzz”. On show this weekend were some of the local pro’s like Jack Anderson (Endura Racing), Jordan Kirby (Jayco – AIS) as well as the local legends such as Mark Ledgerwood. Jack Anderson always likes to make his presence felt when back in Bris Vegas, with Muzz being his old stomping ground as he rose to prominence as a junior. When ever he pins on a number at muzz, he’s always one to watch.
With a bit of wind about Brisbane on Saturday, it was likely things would break up in the A Grade race. The first thirty minutes was raced at over 46kph as a break tried to establish itself. Just before the Prime at halfway, a small group of 5 riders got away to contest the sprint, easily won by Jordan Kirby. After the Prime, five more riders managed to bridge across to the front group and form a dedicated group. The breakaway worked super hard to maintain a high tempo and eventually broke the will of the chasing bunch. With ten minutes to go it was clear the break would stay away, and so the attacks begun from the leading group. The attacks saw riders drop away lap by lap, which eventually saw Jordan Kirby take the win ahead of Jack Anderson and Matt Williams in a small group sprint. Justin Vanstone and Matt Murray (Campos-Ashgrove Cycles) rounded out the top five.
Hamilton Pine Rivers Wheelers also put on their local crit at Nundah, which saw all grades well represented. Please check out full results of races below:
QLD Results
Balmoral Cycling Club Murarrie Crit Results
Hamilton Wheelers
Darren Smith Cycling Classic (Gold Coast Cycling Club)
Coming up next week will be the first of the Twilight Criterium Series hosted by Hamilton Pine Rivers Wheelers at Nundah as well as the usual local crits.
Tasmania
A cold, wet and miserable Launceston Cycling Classic but an estimated 5,000 people still came out and lined the streets around the course. Results: 1st. Luke Ockerby. 2nd. Ben Grenda. 3rd. Ben Mather. Image courtesy of Craig Blowfield
A big weekend of cycling in Tasmania this weekend. The Launceston Pro-Ex cycling week concluded Saturday which finished with the Stan Seijka Launceston Criterium. Mike Tomalaris was there and had this to say about it:
It was cold. It was wet. It was miserable but an estimated 5,000 people still lined the course around the city streets. The people of Tasmania live and breathe the sport whatever the conditions, so special tribute to them. Genesys Wealth Advisers had three riders in the winning breakaway, yet were still outclassed by Luke Ockerby who relished the water-logged surfaces. As a member of the Pure Tas/TIS development squad underlined the significance of this young, enthusiastic well-drilled unit. The Launceston Cycling Classic is named after the late Stan Siejka who founded the event in 2002. Robbie McEwen, Stuart O’Grady, Michael Rogers, Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Mark Renshaw, Baden Cooke, Matt White and Allan Davis are among the European-based Australian luminaries who have either competed or have won the event down the years and therefore, I feel, the race has firmly etched its place on the domestic cycling calendar. Can’t wait for next year when the sun (fingers crossed) comes out.
1st. Belinda Goss. 2nd. Lauren Perry. 3rd. Macey Stewart. Image courtesy of Craig Blowfield
The inaugural Opperman Gran Fondo was held on Saturday which was a timed 160km mass participation ride where over 300 cyclists headed along the beautiful Tamar River and up the challenging Howell Hill. The highlight of the ride was the 8km Howell Hill Climb – King and Queen of the Mountain, with Piers Chamberlen and Christina Robinson taking out the crowns in 23:49 and 28:47 respectively.
TAS Results
Opperman Gran Fondo results.
Launceston Cycling Classic full results.
Canberra
courtesy Miles Prosser
Large fields and aggressive riding were the order of the day in Round 5 of the Raine & Horne Criterium Series. A Grade was of the highest quality and an elite break soon formed that contained euro-pros Michael Matthews and Mick Rogers, who were joined by some of Canberra’s best local riders including Adam Phelan and Stu Shaw from Drapac, and Marc Williams, Brendan Johnston, Shaun Lewis, Benny Hill and Jeremy Ross. There was plenty of excitement, but not much surprise, in the crowd when Michael Matthews won the sprint ahead of Adam Phelan and Benny Hill.
A field of similar quality contested B Grade as the men were joined by the AIS women’s camp. The women held their heads high with constant attacks and a willingness to work. The ride of the night was from Gracie Elvin who worked with local cycling luminary Nathan Spillane in a breakaway and then comfortably won the sprint.
Yet the most aggressive race was probably C Grade. The Quon, with a bit of help, heaped the pressure on from the start so that the race was soon taking up the entire track. Enough of the initial break survived to see Lewis Cressy win from Nathan Schubert and David O’Neill (ahead of The Quon). Winners in other grades included Andrew Schofield, David Purser, Ailie McDonald, Katharine Silk and Lachlan Morgan. Thanks to On the Rivet – Trek for handling the marshal duties for the night.
AIS Women’s Selection Camp
courtesy of Lisa Jacobs
AIS testing in the AIS vomitorium
Last week the women’s selection camp was held at the AIS HQ in Canberra. The aim of the camp was to select AIS scholarship holders for 2012. Fifteen of the best girls from around the country were nominated by their state institute to attend. By the end of the camp, only 5 girls remained. In a significant shift from past selection policy, CA introduced a ‘survival’ theme to the camp. The coaches and physiologists worked closely with the SAS and the Commandos to design a camp that would push each of us to our physical, mental and emotional limits. Read more about Lisa Jacob’s experience at the camp here. Congratulations to Lisa for making the top 5!
