Six Straight for WA Team Pursuit Girls
The Western Australian women’s team pursuit trio of Mel Hoskins, Isabella King and Kelsey Robson have claimed the Australian track national championship after defeating Tasmania in the final at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney.
The win for the WA girls, all of whom hold scholarships with the Western Australian Institute of Sport, marked a sixth consecutive success for Western Australia in the 3000m event.
The team spearheaded by 2012 London Olympian Hoskins, produced a measured performance to register a time of 3:22.660mins, in which the WA girls led at every split.
Tasmania athlete Georgia Baker suffered a pedal malfunction at the start of the race, leading to a false start, but the WA team overcame this hurdle, and a head-cold to Hoskins in the lead-up to the national championships to retain the title WA has called its own since 2008.
“It’s great to keep defending our title,” Hoskins remarked. “My first win was in 2008 and we have a whole new crop of girls coming through – there must be something in the water in WA because we’ve always got a couple of girls who can mix it up.
Despite WA’s record of success in the event, Hoskins revealed she had felt nervous lining up, particularly with world championship selection on the horizon.
“I hadn’t put myself under any pressure and the other girls were in the individual pursuit so I was definitely more nervous than last year – especially around world championships selection time,” she said.
The 2013 track nationals were also highlighted by plenty of other impressive performances from the WAIS cycling department across the U19 and senior ranks.
Hoskins backed up her win in the team pursuit, with an individual silver medal in the scratch race, behind South Australian, Annette Edmondson. Isabella King finished third with two WA athletes on the podium.
Scott Sunderland overcame a stomach bug that forced his withdrawal from the men’s sprint earlier in the competition, to claim silver in the keirin.
The women’s U19 team pursuit squad, of Molly Booker, Emily McRedmond and Elissa Wundersitz (WAIS) showed their would be plenty of future talent to keep WA’s record going, picking up second place and a silver medal behind South Australia.
One of the bright notes from the championships was the success of U19 endurance rider Sam Welsford. Having earlier secured the U19 men’s points race, Welsford enhanced his reputation by winning a second bunch race title, with gold in the U19 men’s scratch race over 10km.
The 16-year-old chased down bronze medallist Jack Hickey after the Victorian broke away from the bunch with five laps remaining.
Welsford caught the escapee and held out a chasing field to enjoy a solo win, with Jack Edwards (NSW) taking the silver medal.
“I can’t believe it,” Welsford said. “The move went so I just went for it and got across that last lap, I just buried it.”
“With three and two laps to go I thought I might not get him and then with one lap left I powered on a little bit and just got over the top of him,” Welsford said, noting his double gold medal haul was more than he could have dreamed of.
“The Points gold was a massive win, it was like the hardest race of the night, but this is just icing on the cake, I can’t believe it.”
Welsford’s efforts didn’t stop there however, with the youngster pairing with fellow WAIS athlete Theo Yates, for a bronze medal in the U19 madison, capping a thoroughly successful campaign for the track athlete.
The U19 women’s sprint racing threw up some interesting results, with WAIS athlete Tian Beckett, just edging Queenslander Sheridan Spark for bronze in the third heat, having won the first in the best of three format.
The Western Australian medal tally for the week read; six gold, four silver and five bronze in another fine set of performances from the athletes coached by WAIS head coach Darryl Benson and WAIS coach Clay Worthington.
The 2013 Australian Cyclones team for the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Minsk, Belarus from 20 to 24 February 2013, will be named within the next week.
– with Cycling Australia