Across three gruelling days at the 2023 NSW Junior Track Championships, current and graduate WRAS cyclists took it to the best cyclists across the state to claim 30 medals including 13 state titles.
All nine of the current WRAS cycling squad returned home with medals, 16 in total (6 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze), which was an impressive effort considering some of the athletes were racing in higher age groups for the first time.
Jenna Gallagher (Bathurst Cycling Club) competing in the U15W category for the first time was one such example, producing numerous personal best times on her way to collecting the Individual Time Trial and Points Race state titles to go with a silver in the Individual Pursuit and bronze in the Omnium.
Ebony Robinson (Bathurst Cycling Club) was again cleverly consistent in executing her tactics across the weekend to claim six medals including the U17W Individual Time Trial and Omnium gold medals.
Cadel Lovett (Bathurst Cycling Club) and Xavier Bland (Orange Cycling Club) impressed racing up in the U19M category and proving themselves against quality riders. Cadel earned first place in the U19 Points Race, with Xavier claiming second in a tight finish. Later on in the meet, the boys combined in the U19M Team Pursuit to collect the state title.
Isabelle Russell (Dubbo Cycling Club) was also a shinning light on the track taking out the gold medal in the U19W Team Pursuit, and fighting hard for a well deserved bronze medal in the U19W Points Race.
Cameron and Lachlan Crump (Orange Cycling Club) pushed their competition in their individual event with the brothers earning their best results in the team events, collecting silver in the U17M Team Pursuit and bronze in the U17M Team Sprint. Lara Allen and Charlotte Lovett (Bathurst Cycling Club) again both rode well through their individual events but experienced their best success in the team events, claiming silver in the U17W Team Pursuit and bronze in the U17W Team Sprint.
There were also a number of graduate cyclists in action with Eliza Bennett (2015 – 2018), Ben Anderson (2018 – 2020), Dylan Eather (2015 – 2020) and Danny Barber (2016 – 2020) all claiming state titles with Kurt Eather (2014 – 2020) claiming two podium finishes and Tyler Puzicha (2017 – 2020) claiming two fourth-place finishes.
A full list of results has been included below:
Jenna Gallagher (U15W)
Gold (State Title) – Individual Time Trial & Points Race
Silver – Individual Pursuit
Bronze – Omnium
Lara Allen (U17W)
Silver – Team Pursuit
Bronze – Team Sprint
13th Points Race
Charlotte Lovett (U17W)
Silver – Team Pursuit
Bronze – Points Race & Team Sprint
9th Individual Pursuit, 11th Individual Time Trial
Ebony Robinson (U17W)
Gold (State Title) – Individual Time Trial & Omnium
Silver – Points Race & Team Pursuit
Bronze – Individual Pursuit & Team Sprint
Isabelle Russell (U19W)
Gold (State Title) – Team Pursuit
Bronze – Points Race
4th Individual Pursuit
Cadel Lovett (U19M)
Gold (State Title) – Points Race & Team Pursuit
7th Individual Pursuit
Xavier Bland (U19M)
Gold (State Title) – Team Pursuit
Silver – Points Race
Bronze – Individual Time Trial & Individual Sprint
6th Individual Pursuit
Cameron Crump (U17M)
Silver – Team Pursuit
Bronze – Team Sprint
5th Points Race, 8th Individual Time Trial, 13th Individual Pursuit
Lachlan Crump (U17M)
Silver – Team Pursuit
Bronze – Team Sprint
7th Points Race, 13th Individual Time Trial, 15th Individual Pursuit
Tyler Puzicha (Elite W) 2020 Graduate
4th Individual Time Trial & Individual Sprint
Eliza Bennett (Elite W) 2018 Graduate
Gold (State Title) – Team Sprint & Individual Sprint
Bronze – Individual Time Trial
Ben Anderson (U19M) 2019 Graduate
Gold (State Title) – Individual Time Trial & Individual Pursuit
Kurt Eather (U19M) 2020 Graduate
Silver – Individual Time Trial
Bronze – Individual Pursuit
9th Points Race
Dylan Eather (Elite M) 2020 Graduate
Gold (State Title) – Individual Time Trial
Silver – Points Race
4th Individual Pursuit
Danny Barber (Elite M) 2020 Graduate
Gold (State Title) – Individual Sprint