Locals succeed at the Madison

DESPITE the heat last weekend, the Bendigo International Madison returned as planned for two days of competitive athletics and cycling.

First place in the women’s Madison was claimed by Chloe Moran and Keira Will, followed by Sophie Edwards and Sally Carter in second place, and Haylee Fuller & Keely Bennett in third.

Bendigo local Blake Agnoletto and Oliver Bleddyn claimed first place in the men’s Madison, with Connor Leahy and Graeme Frislie and James Gardner and Bailey O’Donnell taking out second and third respectively.

In a pre-race interview, Sunday night’s winners Agnoletto and Belddyn said they were excited to be competing in the Madison as strong contenders.

“It’s nice that it’s finally going ahead again,” Agnoletto said. “I’ve done it twice now and always I was quite young, so I was never really part of the race I was just trying to get through it.”

Agnoletto and Bleddyn were recently in Tasmania for a training camp to prepare for their next competition in Hong Kong. “Over the past couple of years we started doing madisons together just to keep working on the pairing and the racing experience together,” Bleddyn said.

“I think worlds at the end of the year will be a big goal, so we’ll have a crack at the World Championships, in Denmark.”

The Madison race is a relay competition of up to 200 laps completed in sprints of five laps.

Cyclists compete in pairs and the gruelling nature of the race necessitates strong teamwork.

The Bendigo International Madison draws cyclists from around the world due to its extended track length and the uncommon angle of the velodrome.

“We are not knowing these types of races in Europe so it’s hard to come in, and you only have one race here but we try our best alays,” said Moritz Augenstein, a visiting cyclist form Germany.

Augenstein competed with his teammate of 10-year Moritz Malcharek and said the two of them had grown up together as cyclists.

“We are German champions in Germany and racing also many UCI races on the track together as a team, and also coming here together as a team,” he said.