Over 15 members of Randwick Cycling represented the club at the recent Road Nationals.
Without doubt, the biggest achievers were our women. In the Women’s Masters 120 Team Time Trial, Fiona Kwok led the team of Audrey Braun, Renee Heinrich, and Anna Murray to victory 🥇, blitzing the opposition by a margin of 2:35:95 with a sub-60min result at an average speed of 33.51 km/h. In the Women's Masters 120 Criterium (Club Teams), Fiona, Renee and Anna combined to claim another victory 🥇 in very blustery conditions.
Meanwhile, the men also made the podium. In the Men's Masters 150 Criterium (Club Teams) of Russell Menzies, Chris Ling, Danielle Vanolini and Matt Glanville were 2nd 🥈in a hotly contested event. In the Man’s Masters 150 TTT, the team of Daniele, Sean Bloch, Russell (injured a few days earlier), and Chris came in 3rd 🥉 in a time of 48:27.51.
Individual gold medals were awarded to both Fiona Kwok 🥇 and Chris Ling 🥇 for their outstanding performances in the Individual Time Trials. Fiona, racing in the WMAS4 division, claimed victory at an average speed of 34.69km/h. And Chris, racing in the MMAS5 division, also won at an average speed of 44.13km/h over the course, faster than the MMAS4, 3, 2 & 1 divisions!
In the Elite division, Steve Mayers competed in the road race, and Jack Bennett and Phil Lucas were in the crit - both supporting Caleb Ewan (Lotto DSTNY). Steve rode well; however, to keep the track clear for the exciting finish, won by Luke Plapp (INEOS Grenadiers), Steve and others were pulled from the course towards the last few laps. A good effort, Steve.
In a first for our club, Trevor Murphy, competed in the ParaMB road race, piloted by Hugh Harvey on a tandem. Trevor and Hugh beat the winning time of last year, however, it was not enough to make the podium of this year - and just missed out with 4th place. Trevor said,
“Hugh and I make a great team on the tandem and I’m really proud of our results. We made some significant gains from 2022, but the competition was fierce this year. Another year of training, with more tandem race experience and we’ll be back on the start line in 2024, both stronger and faster."
Brayden Bloch (racing in Rauland colours) and Will Heffernan (in his first outing with NRS team, CCache Par Küp) both competed in the 139km road race. Will finished in 19th place and Bayden in 22nd. Showing good signs for the future, Will and Brayden finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, both in their first year of the U23 division. Brayden finished 33rd in the U23 ITT and was 'super happy' with his overall performance. Brayden will soon be heading to Europe and hopes to continue his fine form.
In the Junior U19 Women's Road Race, on the 70km circuit around Mount Buninyong, in her first time at the Nationals, Alex Field scored a very respectable 14th place. In the Junior U19 Men's Road Race, on the 104km circuit and also his first time at the Nationals, Hugh Harvey was 20th, winning a 13-man bunch sprint the line, after the large breakaway. Hugh also competed in the Junior ITT and came in 14th, a little over 2mins off the winning time, as well as piloting for Trevor.
In the five-lap Gran Fondo, Chris Ling repeated his outstanding performance from 2022, and not only won 🥇 his 50-54yo Men's Race, yet with a time of 1:31:46, was the fastest rider across all age divisions (45-49, 40-44, 35-39, and 19-34yo)!! Also competing in the Gran Fondo were Daniele Vanolini, placed 9th in the 55-59yo division; Aécio Segundo, who was ‘very happy’ with his 16th place, in the 19-34yo division this year; and Sean Bloch, 18th in 50-54yo division, that was won by Chris.
Congratulations to EVERYONE who competed at the RoadNats23 and thanks to those who supported each member as they worked towards their goals. You have all done our club proud.
Photo credits: Randwick Cycling and RCPix