RoadNats put city on the global stage

ELITE cyclists have rolled through Ballarat and Buninyong for another year as part of the Federation University Road National Championships.

Over five days of action, the country’s best riders raced along on Sturt Street during the criteriums, on the Mount Buninyong course throughout the gruelling road races, and at FedUni’s Mount Helen campus for time trials.

Nuts for Donuts manager Lily Cisterna had a great view of the two-wheeled action from her Sturt Street shopfront.

“I love the RoadNats,” she said. “I get goosebumps when I watch because my sister used to race. It brings back a lot of memories.

“Even though our part of the road is closed, people come out, they’re loving it, and a lot have discovered us. We only just opened up four months ago, so we’re brand new.

“We opened earlier than usual, people came in, sat down, and enjoyed the race here, which is what you want. It’s a really good thing for Ballarat.”

The RoadNats drew people from as far as Brisbane, including first-time visitor and racer Selina Green.

“We’re from The Bel Squad… and I’m [a competitor] in the club team time trial in the masters’ division,” she said.

“I’m one of the coaches. A crew of us have come down, and we’re supporting Kyle Willis who’s an up-and-coming para champion. Hopefully he’ll make the Paris Olympics.

“We’ve hit the road for a ride and every rider that you see out and about gives you a nod, and the drivers are giving us plenty of room, so it’s a good vibe.”

Buninyong and District Community Association’s Robert Elshaug said the live television broadcast across Australia and the world provides invaluable exposure for the village.

“It highlights Buninyong and the surrounds, and the number of people who follow the action from interstate is really positive,” he said.

“It promotes Buninyong as a place of historic interest, and the course is also highly regarded as one of the best tracks around, so that’s a plus.

“Some of the businesses gain advantage from it… and overall, the community is supportive of the bike race.”

Village locals Sonya Sutcliffe and Miranda Donald opened their shop, the Buninyong Gift House, especially for the RoadNats weekend.

“We’ve had people in from Brisbane, the Gold Coast, a fair few visitors from the UK, a couple of from the US, and locals,” Ms Sutcliffe said.

“We’ve had a great chat to people who have been to tourist attractions across Ballarat, they’ve had meals here and stayed locally, so there’s so many positives to having the racing here.

“We’re 50 metres from the finish line, so the location is fabulous.

“We admired the Gran Fondo on Saturday, the para-athletes on Saturday, and the elites on Sunday, and it was nice meeting the families supporting them.

“We’ve gained a lot of emails for our subscriber list, so we’ve tried to be a bit business savvy as well.”

Throughout Friday, the criteriums in the CBD attracted many spectators from greater Ballarat, like Mount Clear’s Ken Rowe.

“It’s my first time watching from here,” he said. “I’ve watched out at Mount Buninyong before. I used to ride my bike out.

“I enjoy the atmosphere of the racing. We’ve walked around, got an ice-cream, it’s been great.”

AusCycling’s executive general manager of sport Kipp Kaufmann said the action was as hot as the weather.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend, and it’s great to be back to a normal event in Ballarat,” he said.

“Everyone’s come back this year, including some of the best riders in the world… and the field’s as big as we’ve ever had.

“Friday night was a huge success and numbers were great. Some people have said it was the best criterium they’ve been to, so to get that feedback has been tremendously exciting.

“Everyone has been happy to be out and about, and the international and domestic broadcasting has also been fantastic.”

Mr Kaufmann said AusCycling’s partnership with FedUni is important.

“They’re such an engaged partner that brings so much value to the event, and such a great international institution.

“They’ve been part of planning, activations, and on Monday and Tuesday, they led sports science webinars with hundreds of people taking part,” he said.

“That has really added to the reputation of the event and the university.”

-WITH TIM BOTTAMS