Some of Australia’s best junior athletes made the trip to Bunbury over the long weekend for three days of thrilling cycling action.
Competitors hit Bunbury and Dardanup for the 2018 Cycling Australia Junior Road National Championships.
On Friday, September 21, a chilly morning saw male and female riders race along Ocean Drive for the Under 15s and 17s individual time trials.
Saturday saw Carnegie cyclist Max Leiner claim the Junior men’s U17s road race in a time of 1:46:00.009, crossing the line in 1:45:54.578 during his last lap.
New South Wales cyclists Daniel Barber (1:46:00.052) and Lincoln Hey (1:46:00.104) rounded out the top three.
Townsville cyclist Stephanie Corset (1:58:01.248) took out the women’s U17s road race ahead of Francesca Sewell (Gold Coast Cycling Club, 1:58:01.451) and Alyssa Polites (Carnegie, 1:58:01.451).
Mount Gambier cyclist Tess Wight (27:25.257) won Sunday’s junior women’s U15s criterium, while Carnegie’s Alexander Jones (25:34.192) finished first in the men’s U15s division.
Sewell also clinched the junior women’s U17s criterium, finishing in a time of 37:03.290.
Bendigo’s Patrick Eddy finished in 34:21.800 to secure the junior men’s U17s criterium.
South West Cycle Club’s Isabella Commons (1:14:13.506) finished fourth in the junior women’s U15s road race.
This is a great experience for our junior riders and it gives them experience in riding at a national level.
- Robert Commons, South West Cycle Club junior coordinator
More than 220 junior cyclists gathered in the South West for the competition.
Five South West Cycle Club riders raced in all three events. The team underwent an intensive eight-week training schedule leading up the championships.
The team’s junior coordinator, Robert Commons, was pleased to see South West athletes involved.
“This is a great experience for our junior riders and it gives them experience in riding at a national level,” he said.
“It’s a really good experience for the kids and they will learn a lot from it.”
Westcycle high performance manager Andrew Jackson said Bunbury and Dardanup were both stellar locations.
“This is the first time in 20 years we’ve had a national event in Western Australia,” he said.
“Having it in Bunbury is really good. I know many people from across the country who have been nothing but complimentary about the area and the environment.”
CycleSport WA and Cycling Australia headed-up the competition with assistance from the City of Bunbury.
Visit junior.roadnationals.org.au for more.
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