Cycling Australia

White will look to repeat

It will be a blockbuster first and second weeks of October for masters road and track cyclists with two massive events on either side of the globe.  

The 2012 Cycling Australia Masters Road National Championships in New South Wales kicks off the cycling action, before the excitement heads to England for the 2012 UCI Masters Track World Championships.

The Masters Road Nationals, which will be held in Goulburn from Wednesday 3 to Sunday 6 October, has attracted a stellar field of 500 entries from all across Australia.

Headlining the entrants is 1988 Seoul Olympian Stephen Fairless and multiple masters track world champion Michelle Crawford, with the oldest rider in the field Barry Robins at 78 years of age.

The Championships commence on Wednesday morning with the individual time trial, with the criteriums to feature on Thursday and Friday.  Sunday's road races in nearby Gunning will wrap up the five-day event.

From Monday, Manchester will once again host the World Masters Track Championships, with the 2012 edition of the event to be held at the National Training Centre from October 7-14.

Over 1000 cyclists will descend on Manchester including multiple masters track world champion David Stevens, who now moves to the 45-49 category after claiming the past two world titles in the points race and individual pursuit.

Defending sprint and time trial champion in the 40-44 classification Gavin White will also line up, as will Geoff Stoker who claimed both the 2011 sprint and time trial in the 50-54 category.  

White and Stoker will be joined by David Wilmott when they look to defend their Masters 135+ team sprint world title.

In the women's categories, Cheryl Hulskamp (40-44) will look to move up on the podium in 2012 after collecting one silver and two bronze in 2011, with Lee Johns looking to add to her team sprint bronze.