National champ June Sports Star

BENDIGO’S latest national cycling champion, Connor Sens has powered his way into the running for Bendigo’s Sports Star of the Year award.

Sens, 23, was in superb form as he contested the AusCycling National Championships in Tasmania for the first time.

Riders not only faced testing climbs and slippery conditions, but also a temperature hovering about three degrees in June at Devil’s Cardigan in north-west Tasmania.

“The longer climbs really suited me,” Connor said of racing the 106 kilometres. “Hills were not so steep, and I race better in the cold than the heat.”

Sens was able to surge clear of rivals across the last five kilometres.

There were about a dozen Gravel Races that Sens contested in the lead-up to the nationals.

“A lot of my racing had been road and track, but gravel racing is something I will look to do a lot more of next year,” he said.

Some of his previous gravel races had been at Harcourt, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, the outskirts of Melbourne, and in Western Australia.

“Gravel Racing has become a big thing in the past couple of years,” Sens said. “I bought a gravel bike to do a lot of training for the ride, and just went from there in terms of racing.

“It’s not as technical as mountain biking or has the sharp turns and descents like MTB racing, but there’s plenty of challenges racing on the gravel.

“At Devil’s Cardigan the mud was flying for a lot of the way.”

Bendigo clubmate Peta Mullens, also a multiple finalist in Sports Star of the Year, was runner-up in the women’s elite race at the Gravel Nationals.

Victory at the nationals has meant Sens qualified for the UCI Gravel World Championships to be raced in Veneto, Italy in October.

A key part of the build-up will be the Tour of Malaysia in September.

Another key player in Connor’s cycling is coach Jordan Kerby, a dual gold medallist in teams pursuit at Commonwealth Games level.

Cycling has played a big part in Connor Sens’ life and his dad, Paul raced, as did uncles Noel and Paul.

Among the highs of this year’s Sports Star award was Noel Sens being named the recipient of the Faith Leech Achievement Award.