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River of rainbows in Melbourne this week
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It will be a river of rainbows at Melbourne’s DISC Velodrome when it hosts more than a dozen world champions for this week’s Cycling Australia Omnium, Para-cycling and Madison National Championships.
It will be a river of rainbows at Melbourne’s DISC Velodrome when it hosts more than a dozen world champions for this week’s Cycling Australia Omnium, Para-cycling and Madison National Championships.
The three-day track carnival starts on Thursday and runs through to Saturday when the Madison crown will be decided.
The Championships are a key lead up event for the 2012 UCI Track World Championships being staged in Melbourne next April and for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
The battle for the green and gold jersey in the women’s omnium will be fierce with one of the strongest fields ever assembled at a national championship.
2009 omnium world champion Josie Tomic, 2007 points race world champion Katherine Bates (NSW) and four-time junior world champion Amy Cure (TAS) combined for a fourth place finish in the team pursuit at the 2011 worlds in Apeldoorn earlier this year but this week will battle each other for individual glory.
The decorated field also includes reigning omnium national champion Annette Edmondson (SA) plus 2010 team pursuit world champions Sarah Kent (WA) and Ashlee Ankudinoff (NSW). Ankudinoff is no stranger to the demands of the omnium event having claimed the 2010 Australian crown.
The men’s omnium field is headed by South Australian and 2008 national champion Glenn O’Shea. Also lining up is Alex Edmondson, who with O’Shea claimed gold in the Madison at last month’s Astana round of the UCI Track World Cup where O’Shea also won the individual pursuit.
The under 19 events are stacked with members of the ‘Baby Cyclones’ Australian team that finished on top of the medal tally at this year’s junior world titles.
He’ll be wearing the rainbow jersey but junior omnium world champion Caleb Ewan (NSW) will face tough competition from the likes of team pursuit junior world champions Jack Cummings and Alexander Morgan from Victoria.
Queensland’s Taylah Jennings will be the rider to beat in the junior women’s omnium. Jennings won all six events to claim the world title in August. She won a second gold medal in Russia as a member of the team pursuit trio along with Tasmania’s Georgia Baker who will also vie for omnium gold this week.
The Para-cycling competition will be fierce as Australia’s Paralympic Games hopefuls fine-tune their preparation for the Para-cycling track world championships being staged in Los Angeles in February.
Michael Gallagher is the reigning individual pursuit world champion and world record holder, Canberra’s Sue Powell won three world titles in 2011 and tandem pair Felicity Johnson (with pilot Stephanie Morton) are the current time trial world champions.
The Madison competition on Saturday will reunite reigning world champions Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard on home turf for the first time since they claimed their second straight Madison rainbow jersey in March.
But while Meyer and Howard will go in as favourites the O’Shea and Edmondson are in ominous form and junior world champions Ewan and Jackson Law will be out to prove a point to their older rivals.
Event Details:
Cycling Australia Para-cycling and Omnium National Championships
- Thursday 15 & Friday 16 December
- Sessions: 10.30am & 6:30pm.
- Tickets: Morning session entry is free. Evening session tickets available at the door for the Omnium and Para-cycling Championships. Evening sessions $10 for adults; $5 for kids (U17) and will be available at the door
Cycling Australia Madison National Championship
- Saturday 17 December
- 6:30 pm
- Tickets: from $10-$25 and available online at vic.cycling.org.au
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