Local cyclists shine

Five riders attend SA Road Cycling Championships

Five riders represented the Mt Gambier Cycling Club at the recent SA Road Cycling Championships held at the Murraylands town of Mypolonga.

The course was slightly affected by the flooding of the Murray river earlier in the year, and included some gravel and white metal roads amongst the bitumen, but the riders enjoyed beautiful sunny and dry weather for the racing.

The club’s youngest representative Molly Opperman (top right) raced both the Road Race and Time Trial in the U13 Girls category, taking home first place medals in both her events. She also received the second place trophy for the Bryton Series which accrued points over three previous races in the year.

The U17 men’s category was well represented by MGCC riders, with Jami Buckley joined by Elmer Buckland and Ethan McKenny in the road race.

Jami (bottom right) was part of the leading bunch through the first five laps, which had been whittled down from 13 riders to six, and as the riders came toward the finish sprint for the final time Jami rode furiously to claim second place, less than a bike length behind the winner. As a younger rider, Ethan (pictured below) was unable to keep up with the older riders ahead of him but continued to ride through to complete his race, whilst Elmer was unable to finish.

On Sunday morning Jami added Time Trial bars to his bike and competed in what is known as the Race of Truth. The Time Trial does not allow any drafting, so it is the ultimate expression of the strength of the individual.

Jami was the second last rider in his category to start his race, with each rider having a one minute gap between them at the start. The race was for 15km, two laps of an out and back course giving the riders an opportunity to see if they were making headway to the riders ahead of them. At the completion of the event, less than one second separated the leading duo of riders, with Jami once again finishing just behind Will Brown of Port Adelaide Cycling Club.

Sarah Dally, a former Mount Gambier resident who began competing on the Blue Lake velodrome, now in Adelaide as part of the SA Sports Institute Track Cycling squad, also competed in the U23 Women’s road race, taking home the silver medal.