Cycling Australia

The 2013 Cycling Australia Junior Track National Championships got underway at the Adelaide Super-Drome on Wednesday with New South Wales claiming bragging rights after winning three of the six gold medals on offer, with Victoria, West Australia and South Australia each taking one.

In the under 17 500m time trial finals, two of Australia’s brightest emerging sprint stars in Victoria’s Courtney Field and Cameron Scott of New South Wales successfully defended their titles.

The last of 23 riders to take to the track in the under 17 women's final, Field, 15, posted the only sub 37 second ride, covering the two laps in 36.590secs and just shy of 50km/hour.

Bridget Mullany (37.698) and Tahlay Christie (37.753) claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.

It was Field’s seventh national junior track title, after claiming two under 17 titles in 2012 and four under 15 titles in 2010 and 2011.

In the under 17 men's final, Scott, 15, blitzed the field of 25 riders, stopping the clock at 33.842secs to finish over half a second ahead of Victoria’s Gary Ramshaw (34.357).

Scott’s New South Wales teammate Christopher Bryan (34.373) took the bronze medal.

Like Field, Scott has been simply superb in his category over the past year, claiming three national titles in the sprint, individual pursuit and time trial, in addition to the Champion of Champions Trophy and setting Australian records in the time trial and flying 200m.

In an exciting under 17 women’s 2000m team pursuit event, the Australian record fell twice in ten minutes following some superb racing from all four teams.

In the bronze medal final, West Australia’s Alicia Buchanan, Sarah Tucknott and Niken Jefferies (2:30.174) broke the 2012 record of 2mins 30.281secs set by New South Wales to win bronze over the Victorian trio of Chloe Baggs, Emma Bilston and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (2:31.106).

Their time in the record books was short-lived however, with the South Australian team of Kate Branson, Dannielle McKinnirey and Chloe Moran wowing the home crowd with an Australian record on their way to winning gold over New South Wales.

The trio scorched around the Super-Drome track to cover the eight laps in a time of 2mins 30.028secs to eclipse the minutes-old WA time by just over a tenth of a second.

Nicola MacDonald, Bridget Mullany and Hollee Simons (NSW) took the silver (2:31.848).

In the under 17 men’s 3000m team pursuit, West Australia’s reign in the event continued, with the quartet of Matthew Jackson, Darcy Pirotta, Alex Rendell and Michael Storer upsetting Victoria in the final.

The Victorian team of Caiden Hull, Kurt Santagada, James Tickner and Thomas Verleys-Donk went into the final with a mental edge after posting the fastest qualifying time, three tenths of a second better than WA.

However WA turned the tables on their rivals in the final, crossing the line in 3mins 22.811secs to take gold over Victoria who posted 3mins 23.872secs.

In the bronze medal ride, the New South Wales quartet of Christopher Bryan, Sam Jenner, Cameron Scott and Peiden Telfer (3:26.877) were too good for Tasmania’s Braydon Bennett, Sam Maney, James ROBINSON and Hayden Dicocco-Grant (3:27.660).

New South Wales claimed both under 15 sprint titles on offer on day one through Kai Chapman and Jessie Saunders.

In the under 15 men's sprint, Chapman, 13, defeated fastest qualifier Isaac Buckell (12.200) in the final, accounting for him in straight sets.

Ronin Munro gave Tasmania its first medal of the championships when he defeated Victoria’s Godfrey Slattery in the bronze medal final.

In the under 15 women's sprint, Saunders, 13, claimed her first national track title with a flawless run through the event.

After posting the fastest flying 200m time of 13.214 in the afternoon session, Saunders progressed through the rounds unscathed before defeating teammate Natasha Mullany in straight heats in the final.

Chloe Heffernan completed the trifecta for New South Wales with victory over Victoria’s Georgia Cummings in the bronze medal final.

The 2013 Cycling Australia Junior Track National Championships are being held from Wednesday 27 February to Saturday 2 March 2013 at the Superdrome, Gepps Cross, Adelaide.