Cycling Australia

South Australia and Victoria claimed the honours in opening session of the 2013 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships held at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome on Wednesday afternoon.

London Olympian and reigning omnium world champion Glenn O’Shea (SA) took gold in the men’s kilometre time trial, fellow South Australians Stephanie Morton and Rikki Belder claimed the women’s team sprint crown, while reigning junior world champion Zac Shaw (VIC) won the under 19 men’s time trial.

South Australia's Glenn O'Shea (1:02.982) once again showed his track cycling versatility by winning the men’s kilometre time trial champion with a strong ride to open his account at the Championships.

O’Shea lead at every time check over the four laps to win ahead of fellow South Australian Luke Davison (1:03.666) and New South Wales’ Timothy McMillan (1:03.901).
The win gave O’Shea his twelfth career national track title, a swag which boasts green and gold jerseys in the omnium, team pursuit, scratch and points races. 

“I am happy with my time, it wasn’t my best ride but I think it’s the second best time I’ve ever ridden in that event so I am pretty happy with that,” said O’Shea.

“It’s pretty satisfying to tick the kilo off the list and it’s my goal over the next couple of years to have win all the endurance events.  Just the IP to go.”

O’Shea will now turn his attentions to the team pursuit in which he will join Luke Davison, Alex Edmondson and Miles Scotson as they attempt to defend their national title.  O’Shea will also contest the points race.

“The team pursuit is a priority for us, it’s a pretty important event,” O’Shea said.  “And we have all been training with the national squad, so we are all well drilled at the moment so hopefully we can come away with the win.”

South Australia's Stephanie Morton and Rikki Belder won the women's team sprint crown (34.221) over the New South Wales pair of Stephanie Fernando-Prieska and Kaarle McCulloch (34.408).

Belder posted a personal best time of 19.699seconds over the first lap, two tenths of a second faster than Fernando-Prieska.  In the second lap, Morton held off the three-time world champion McCulloch to secure the title for South Australia.

“Rikki and I don’t really train that often together so it was great to get out here and do so well,” said Morton, who paired with McCulloch last week to claim gold in the women’s team sprint at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Mexico.  “I don’t feel too bad after Mexico, I’ve had a few days off to taper my training and I am feeling good for these Championships.”

For 19-year-old Belder, it was her second successive title after claiming the crown with Anna Meares in 2012.

“It feels so good, when-ever you go out and defend a title it is so satisfying to defend it,” said Belder. “Every time whether you are defending or not you have to go out there and race as fast as you can, to try and race a PB and blow the track apart.

“I think Anna will be proud of us as well, we both did a great job,” Belder remarked.

Queensland’s Taylah Jennings and Bax (35.636) won bronze over West Australia’s Allee Proud and Tian Beckett (35.761).

The first gold medal of the Championships went to Victoria's Zac Shaw (1:03.637) who eclipsed his own Championship record on the way to winning gold in the under 19 men’s kilometre time trial.

It was a Victorian trifecta with Braeden Dean (1:05.791) taking silver and Hugo Tolliday (1:06.405) bronze.

The 2013 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships will be held at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome from 30 January to 2 February, 2013.

The Championships will be shown live from 7:30pm on Friday 1 February and Saturday 2 February on SBS TWO.

Follow the action online:

    Website http://tracknationals.subaru.com.au/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/CyclingAusTrack
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CyclingAusTrack
    Live results http://tracknationals.subaru.com.au/senior/results/
    Live Stream - From 7:30pm on Friday 1 February and Saturday 2 February at www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral