WAIS Cyclists Dominate Oceania Champs

Published On: 2 December 2010

Cam Meyer lived up to his hype

WAIS athlete of the Year Cameron Meyer has capped a highly successful week with two race victories at the weekend Oceania Track Championships in Adelaide.

Meyer was anointed the Western Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year on Saturday night, following his meteoric 2010 campaign that has included three world titles and a trio of Commonwealth gold medals. And his form showed no signs of dissipating in Adelaide as he claimed race wins in the team pursuit and madison.

Australia is the current world champions in the teams pursuit and Meyer teamed with incumbents Michael Hepburn and Jack Bobridge along with the man who made way for Meyer in the world championship ride, Victorian Leigh Howard as they claimed victory over New Zealand.

Meyer then reprised his madison world championship with Leigh Howard as they proved far too strong for the field, claiming two laps on the competition. In an impressive ride, young WAIS cyclist Mitch Benson teamed with SASI rider Alex Edmonson for third.

AIS-WAIS cyclist Scott Sunderland continued his fine tuning ahead of this weekend’s world cup clash with the all-conquering Great Britain team in Melbourne, with wins in the kilo, and the men’s team sprint alongside Dan Ellis and Jason Niblett.

The WAIS trio of Melissa Hoskins, Bella King and Sarah Kent claimed first, second and third in that order in the women’s omnium event.

World Champions Sarah Kent and Josie Tomic teamed with NSW’s Kate Bates to claim victory in the women’s teams pursuit. Kent was also a close second in the points race, Melissa Hoskins was third. Australia’s Megan Dunn took the win.

Making their senior debuts, WAIS athletes John Bathe (men’s keirin) and Holly Williams (women’s keirin, 550m time trial and sprint) finished fifth in there events, showing plenty of promise for the future.

Mitch Benson backed up his efforts in the madison, by performing strongly in the junior ranks with wins in the omnium, team pursuit and second place in the points race and third in the individual pursuit.

Luke Zaccaria (WAIS) also showed good form in the juniors with a win in the team sprint, and third in the individual sprint and a fifth place in the keirin.

This weekend, Cameron Meyer will headline Australia’s Melbourne world cup charge alongside fellow WAIS athletes Sarah Kent, Josie Tomic, Melissa Hoskins and Scott Sunderland.