In the weekend before Christmas, five Mount Gambier Cycling Club riders attended the South Australian Junior Track Championships at the Superdrome in Adelaide.
They participated in a variety of track events including an individual pursuit, teams pursuit, teams sprint, individual sprint, individual time trial, a points race and a scratch race.
Jami Buckley, Kai Arbery and Patrick Langsmith were attending the championships for the first time, competing in the U17 Male division with Niel van Niekerk.
They combined to finish third in the 3000 metres teams pursuit race, where a group of four riders work together to try and catch another quartet over 12 laps of the velodrome.
Van Niekerk, Langsmith and Arbery also combined in the team sprint to claim second place in that race.
In good team spirit, Buckley joined with another two riders from different clubs so all could participate in the racing.
Individually, van Niekerk came away from the championships with an additional five medals, being on the podium for the 2000 metres individual pursuit (3rd), 500 metre time trial (3rd), 50 lap (12.5km) points race (2nd), 7.5km (30 lap) scratch race (2nd) and the individual sprint (2nd).
Arbery finished just outside the podium in the 500 metre time trial.
In the points race, a sprint occurred every 10 laps, with points gained for the placings in that sprint and the person with the most points at the end of the race was declared the winner.
In the scratch race, all riders started together and the winner was the rider who crossed the finish line first.
In the individual sprint, qualifying times were taken from a single 200 metre flying lap, then the top riders had a sprinting duel on the track to determine the placings.
In junior racing, a key component to factor in is the roll-out of the gearing, meaning that each revolution of the pedal could only send the bike a maximum distance of seven metres for U17 males.
Van Niekerk was pedalling at an average of 145rpm for the 200m sprint.
Molly Opperman also competed at the championship in the U13 Girls division where riders are allowed a roll-out of 5.5 metres with their gearing.
Both boys and girls raced together in U13 when racing the points race and scratch race, showing their strength and skills to match each other.
Opperman collected medals in the 3km (12 lap) scratch race (1st), 500 metre time trial (1st), 1500 metre individual pursuit (1st) and 15 lap (3.75km) points race (2nd).
She also rode a qualifier for the 200 metre sprint, averaging 142rpm for her flying run and rode in one of the teams for the U17 teams sprint.
Those who participated came away from the track meet with many personal best times and learnt a great deal.
Caitlin Ward, Josh Harrison and Che Anthony provided expert help in sharing their coaching knowledge with riders, while the U17 riders have been part of the Limestone Coast Regional Sporting Academy and are indebted to their local coaches in Rob Mann, Mike Bakker and Matthew Opperman for help and advice leading up to the titles, along with Damian Buckley and Tony Elletson for their work to ensure the riders were in their best shape.
South Australia’s state team will soon be selected, with riders looking forward to finding out if they have made the team.
In the meantime, some riders will continue their track riding in Victoria with their post-Christmas carnivals.
Locally the Mount Gambier Cycling Club looks forward to combining with the South Coast Cycling Club for a two day track carnival to sstart on Saturday, January 15 at the Blue Lake Velodrome.
The calendar for the 2022 MGCC Summer Series has also been announced with nine 25km events being held each week from Sunday, January 23.
