Several Southern Downs cyclists having been flying the Cycling flag with success in some serious comepitition. At the recent 2022 UCE Auscycle State Masters Track Championships at Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.
Stanthorpe cyclist, Adrian Tillin won Bronze in the MAS6 Individual pursuit and Gold in the Points race.
Warwick rider John Eder won Gold in the MAS5 Time Trial, Sprint and Kerin ; while another Warwick rider, Robert Partington won Silver in the Time Trial, Sprint and Individual pursuit and Gold in the Scratch race, Points race and Omnium.
Not a bad haul.
To put some of this into perspective for the uninitiated, the Time Trial is a standing start from a time-controlled start gate and is two laps of the velodrome (500 meters).
The Individual Pursuit is an endurance event; also, a standing start and riders are on the track with another competitor on the other side of the track. The distance for these competitors based on age was over two kilometres.
The individual pursuit is very intense and hard to get right.
Sprints start with qualifying, and it is called the flying 200. Riders are given three laps to wind up to speed with the last 200 meters timed and sprint order is based on the outcome of the flying 200. After that there are match sprints over three laps and best of three to decide the winner.
The Kerin is a another exciting and very fast event with competitors lining up on the track and a motor bike used to pace riders up to speed in three laps. At around 50kph the motor bike swings off and the competition have three 3 laps to the finish. Speeds on the last lap can exceed 70kph.
The Scratch race is another endurance event. More like a road race but usually at a lot higher average speed.
The Points race is similar but has sprint points every ten laps and the rider with the highest points wins.
The Omnium is also an endurance with four races to decide the winner. Points are accumulated based on a finishing place in each race. The races which make up the Omnium are Tempo, Elimination, Scratch and Points races.
The Auscycle 2022 Masters Track Nationals was also held at Anna Meares Velodrome recently. Local riders again had success in the competition.
John Eder riding in the MAS5 category placed fifth in the Time Trial, fourth in the Sprint and Kerin and won Silver in the 135+ years Team sprints.
Robert Partington rode in the MAS7 category and placed fifth in the Individual pursuit, fourth in the Sprints, won Bronze in the Time Trial, Silver in the Scratch race and Gold in the Points race (National champion) after taking a lap on the other riders.
A number of local riders also completed the Tour de Brisbane recently. The Tour was held in Brisbane over closed roads with the opportunity to qualify for the world championships. Riders also had the chance to ride some of Brisbane’s iconic tunnels, busway, the Storey Bridge and the CBD all on closed roads which was something to savour as a cyclist.
Thanks to Robert Partington for this report. We hope to hear much more of our cyclists in the future.
