Western Australia Win Southcott Cup at #TrackNats
Western Australia’s elite men’s team pursuit has lifted the Southcott Cup after claiming the national title on the opening day of the Australian Track Championships in Brisbane.
Fans were treated to a thrilling pursuit battle between Western Australia and South Australia as WA put an end to South Australia’s dominance of the event over the last seven years.
Seven years, also marks the time out of national track competition for Cameron Meyer, who returned to the boards on the Anna Meares Velodrome flanked by fellow world championship winners Sam Welsford and Michael Freiberg, with Stephen Hall finalising the quartet.
The West Aussies produced a world class time to earn gold in a new Australian Championship Record of 3mins 55.988secs.
Beating the existing mark of 3mins 56.834secs set by Olympic medallists Rohan Dennis, Jack Bobridge, Glenn O’Shea and Alex Edmondson by almost a second.
With the leading changing hands multiple times over the first half of the race, no clear leader would emerge until the closing kilometre, when Western Australia were able to power away for a famous win.
Current world champion and WAIS Athlete of the Year Sam Welsford said the experience of wearing the rainbow jersey in the gold medal effort was a sweet moment.
“It’s very special for me to wear the rainbows here at the track nationals in your home country and obviously to pick up the green and gold jersey as well with a fantastic group of guys who we’ve got here,” said Rio Olympic silver medallist Welsford.
“I think we rode perfectly out there. We used everyone to the maximum that we could, and I’m very proud of these boys and how they laid everything out there.
“Yeah, It’s taken a while for our senior guys to put up a team together and to be competitive. I’m really happy with the guys, and hopefully we can build on this and show the other guys that way that we can do it.”
For Meyer – who was part of the last winning West Australian outfit in 2009 – it continues a successful return to cycling.
“It’s great to be here, that kicks off the championships in great style. That’s more than we could have dreamt of.
“We wanted to be in the final, that’s for sure. To ride a time like that and beat a quality side like the South Australians who have won it the past six or seven years. So we’re really happy.
“We didn’t think we’d go that fast, so that’s very special,” Meyer explained of the world class time.
“It beats a lot of times of previous best teams, so we’re ecstatic and are looking forward to the next events now.”
In the U19 men’s team pursuit, a WA team featuring Craig Wiggins, Tyler Lindorff, Luke Howe and Conor Leahy edged a NSW outfit by less than a tenth of a second.
Competing a senior elite level for the first time at national championship level, young gun Tahlay Christie performed well alongside Rihanna Pezaj to claim bronze in the women’s team sprint, won by South Australia.
WA had further medal success in the men’s U19 team sprint with Oceania Champions Kye Bonser and Matthew Richardson combining with Julian Krohn to win the gold medal in 46.294 seconds ahead of the New South Wales team of Tom Cornish, Zachary Marshall and Kai Chapman (46.990).
Jade Haines picked up a bronze medal in the women’s U19 scratch race with a blanket finish seeing Tasmania’s Morgan Gillon crowned national champion ahead of Alex Martin Wallace (QLD).
-with CyclingAus