Strong Campaign from Junior WAIS Cyclists

WAIS Cycling Coach Darryl Benson has hailed the efforts of the WA crew that competed at the recent U15 and U17 national road cycling championships in Wagga Wagga.

Western Australia produced a dominant campaign in regional NSW, with WAIS athletes Michael Storer, Matt Jackson and Niken Jefferies all claiming national titles.

In the U17 men’s time trial, Storer covered the 14km circuit fsatest – producing an average speed of 45.21km to win in 18:34.84mins. Jackson rode a superb tactical race to win the U17 men’s road race in a bunch sprint, whilst Jefferies rounded out a fine series of displays from the competing WAIS athletes with victory in the U17 women’s criterium.

WAIS head coach Darryl Benson said the results were encouraging for the future of Western Australian road cycling.

The results throughout this campaign were very pleasing with WA athletes winning 50% of the gold medals on offer across both age groups,” he said.

Benson was particularly impressed by Jefferies’ result after the first year U17 rider was involved in crashes in both the road race and criterium.

“Niken showed a lot of promise,” Benson said. “She went down in a crash 500m from the finish in the road race when well in contention for victory and she could’ve easily lost her nerve when coming down again in the criterium, but to her credit, she bounced up, changed her wheel and won the final sprint convincingly.”

“It was a courageous effort,” Benson added.

The WA U17 men’s contingent was competitive in all disciplines and Benson said he expected the group to transfer that focus into the U19 level next year.

“The challenge for that group is to make that transition up into the U19s now. They’ve competed really well and I think there’s more to come from them.”

In other cycling news, Cycling Australia is expected to this week finalize its squad for the 2013 Road Cycling World Championships in Florence, Italy (September 21-29).

In the elite senior men’s squad, WAIS has two athletes shortlisted with Cameron Meyer and Luke Durbridge both in contention, whilst in the elite women’s, Mel Hoskins is vying for selection. In the men’s U23 ranks, Bunbury raised cyclist Brad Lindfield is the extended squad.