Durbridge & Allen take Gold at 2011 Junior World Road Championships in Copenhagen
20th September 2011, Amanda O'Connor
Midland Cycle Club riders Jessica Allen and Luke Durbridge have opened Australia’s medal account at the road world championships in Copenhagen overnight with stunning performances as they both topped the podium in the opening day’s time trials.
Allen, seeded as last rider, had a nervous wait while the 39 strong field completed the 13.9km course with British rider Elinor Barker setting the time to beat as she powered around the technical circuit to post a time of 19min 20sec. Allen, with a year’s experience under her belt in the UCI event, was able to ride to her strengths and keep herself ahead of the Brit at every time check and stopped the clock at 19min 18secs to take her first rainbow jersey. Germany’s Mieke Kroger rounded out the podium taking bronze in a time of 19min 21sec.
The win sees Jessica finish off a superb season after also taking an individual silver medal in the road time trial at the Commonwealth Youth Games on the Isle of Man in the lead up to this event.
West Australians had a long wait to see if compatriot MCC superstar Luke Durbridge could do the double and Turbo Durbo didn’t disappoint with a sensational win in the U23 Men’s event. Posting a slick time of 42min 47 sec for the 35.2km circuit, Durbridge went one better than last year when he narrowly missed out on the gold and was the only rider to come home under 43 seconds. The Bassendean star now has another rainbow jersey to add to his collection, having taken the U19 title in 2009. Local Dane Rasmus Quaade (43.22) and fellow Aussie Michael Hepburn (43.33) rounded out the top three.
Both Allen and Durbridge will contest the road races later in the week.
Full details of the 2011 UCI World Road Championships can be found at www.copenhagen2011.dk
The class of Midland Cycle club riders this season has been remarkable at all levels, with a strong showing in Europe by our U17 boys and a domination of the U15 boys category at the road national championships quickly followed by some great performances at last week’s youth challenge in Hong Kong.
Midland Cycle Club continues to produce the depth of talent which has seen the club take the 2006 and 2009 Club Premiership Award as it again adds to an impressive list of junior, senior and master’s world champions.
Durbridge, Meyer and Freiberg take Gold at 2011 World Track Championships.
29th March 2011, Amanda O'Connor
Midland Cycle Club riders Luke Durbridge, Cameron Meyer and Michael Freiberg lined up against the worlds best at the new Omnisport Sporting Complex in the Netherlands last week as part of a strong Aussie contingent at the 2011 UCI Track World Championships.
The new purpose built complex in the pretty Dutch city of Apeldoorn for indoor athletics, volleyball and track cycling has opened with some fanfare and the Aussie Cyclones have surged through taking eight of the nineteen gold medals on offer at the championships.
Leading the charge were West Australians and Midland Cycle Club riders Luke Durbridge, Cameron Meyer and Michael Freiberg.
Luke Durbridge struck gold on day one after joining Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis and Michael Hepburn in the men’s team pursuit. The Aussie quartet claimed an easy victory over the Russian team in a sizzling time of 3min57sec.
Cam Meyer lined up as odds on favourite to take a third straight title in the mens’40km points race and unsurprisingly found himself a heavily marked man in his pet event. While the field watched Meyer, the Colombian Alcibiades snuck away early to take a lap and was the only rider to take the 20 point bonus. Meyer settled for silver and was forced to wait for the Madison on the last day of racing to secure another rainbow jersey.
Sunday couldn’t come too soon for the Helena Valley superstar when he joined team mate Leigh Howard. The defending champions were hungry to defend their Madison crown and record back to back victories in the event. The duo rode a controlled race early and waited for the final 10k before taking a lap and an intermediate sprint on their way to victory.
Rounding out the strong showing by the MCC boys Michael Freiberg flew under the radar to take the top prize in the men’s Omnium. The 20 year old from Dianella, in sensational form, proved too strong taking a decisive win over New Zealand rider Shane Archibold and Belgian Gijs Van Hoecke.
Freiberg’s win surely begs the question "Is he the next big thing"? Freiberg has been like a stealth bomber flying oblivious to radar and now as world champion in the new darling Olympic event, this quiet achiever may have shown his hand in the lead up to next years London Olympics.
For full results visit www.worldchamptrackcycling.com
Midland Cycle Club Young Guns Fire in Sydney.
26th March 2011, Amanda O'Connor
Midland Cycle Club riders put on a classy showing at the 2011 Scody Cycling Australia Junior Track National Championships last week at the Dunc Grey Velodrome in Sydney.
Day one of the championship saw the junior 15 men line up for the 500 mtr time trial. Opening the medal account for MCC was exciting newcomer Gary Ramshaw taking silver in 36.73 just ahead of Darcy Pirotta in 36.84. Matthew Jackson inspected the track prior to his individual pursuit ride and rounded out the top four place getters in a time of 36.98.
Session two saw Brendon Meney, Luke Vitler and Jai Hindley lining up as part of the four man pursuit team to qualify third fastest in the junior 17 men’s 3000mtr team pursuit. Later that evening Meney and Vitler joined Reece Tucknott and Theo Yates to take the bronze in 3min 27sec ahead of the Queensland quartet who posted a time of 3min 29sec.
Elissa Wundersitz (MCC) then teamed with fellow West Aussies Tian Beckett and Kelsey Robson to grab gold in a thrilling women’s event coming home in 2.31.28 over the Tasmanian trio in 2.31.95. In doing so, they secured an Australian Record!
The final day saw Wundersitz denied a second gold medal as she and Beckett had to to settle for silver in the women’s junior 17 team sprint. The WA pair stopped the clock in 37.898 beaten by a nose by the NSW team who clocked 37.896.
The junior men’s Individual Pursuit saw MCC boys almost posting a trifecta after taking the top three spots in qualifying. Matthew Jackson winning his pet event in a classy 2.31.46 with Darcy Pirotta taking the second spot on the podium in 2.33.70 and Ramshaw narrowly 4th after the sprinter rode an incredible time of 2.33.54.
Tahlay Christie put in a strong showing in the junior women 15 sprint event finishing fourth and the boys dream team of Jackson, Ramshaw and Pirotta were again in the medal mix with silver, bronze, and fourth in the JM 15 sprint final.
Capping off the programme saw the scratch races for all age divisions with Matt Jackson and Darcy Pirotta showing their class by decimating the field with a one – two finish in a sizzling time of 6m 23sec.
Overall, the junior championship again witnessed some supreme and dominating performances by Midland club members. This year also saw a strong showing from Jemilla Anderson, Brooke Ramshaw on debut, and Molly Booker moving up to the U17 class.
Ergometers are ready!
5th January 2011, Dave Meney
Last year, the club approved and purchased 4 computerised windtrainers. You'll have seen these gathering dust in the compy room at the track.
Well I'm pleased to advise that the booking system is now ready and the ergos can be booked for testing.
I'm going to need the following information so copy this text (now) and paste it in the email you'll send:
Rider:
Name
Licence No.
Mobile No.
Email address
Emergency 1 contact:
Name
Relationship
Home No.
Work No.
Mobile No.
Email address
Emergency 2 contact:
Name
Relationship
Home No.
Work No.
Mobile No.
Email address
Note - your licence needs to be valid for 2011.
Click here to read more and to register.
