Victorian Team Time Trials

Three Kelly Cycle Coaching athletes, Liz Hall, Ben Andrews and Angus Lyons, scored podium places in the Victorian Teams Time Trial Championships last weekend.  Racing in the junior 17 and junior 19 divisions, Ben and Angus were members of medal winning teams, whilst Liz Hall scored gold in the Masters category.

The Time Trial championships were raced over an undulating 50 kilometre course from Buninyong to Mt Mercer and return. Although there were no long ascents, the course comprised a series of sharp rises and descents, calling for power cycling from the contestants.  Conducted by the Ballarat Sebastopol Cycling Club, the events were raced on a cloudy, cold July morning.

Nine Victorian teams contested the junior 17 division. In addition, the well-performed South Australian state team journeyed from Adelaide for the contest.  The South Australians – Rohan Wight, Peter Pedler and Thomas Allford – were the first team to ride off for the 50 kilometre race against the clock.

Along with his Carnegie-Caulfied team-mates, Caiden Hull and James Tickner, Ben Andrews was the last trio away for the event.  With a strong tail wind, the CCCC squad scorched through the first 25 kilometres in 30 minutes to gain almost 2 minutes on the South Australians by the turn around. On the descents, the CCCC trio was topping 80 kph in junior gearing!  The Victorians held their formation in the difficult slog back into the strong wind to score the gold medals.

In the junior 19 division, Angus Lyons backed up from a tough day in the saddle in the Melbourne to Ballarat road race in which he had finished a very credible 47th place as a junior.  Together with his Ballarat Sebastopol team mates, Josh Liston, William Key and Lochie Callum, Angus rode a strong Time Trial to finish second to the Carnegie Caulfield squad.

Liz Hall also competed in the Women’s Masters division, riding with her Hawthorn Cycling Club team mates, Megan Marsh and Rae Lesniowska.

Liz arrived back in Melbourne two days before the race after spending a month in Europe following the TDF and fitting in a bit of training on some of the famous French Cols including Col du Galibier, Col de la Croix de Fer and Alpe d’Huez.  Whilst the perfect riding conditions in Europe enabled some hill climb training, it provided little preparation for the brutally cold and windy conditions of the day in Buninyong.

Like the juniors, the women found the ‘out’ leg of the race fast and exhilarating.  However, the return leg required dogged determination to maintain sufficient speed to rein in the other teams.  That determination was rewarded with Liz and her team mates taking the gold medal.