Illawarra Cycle Club
Home of Cycling in the Illawarra
Illawarra - Report by Marcus Arnold
Cycling Club had a highly successful meet at the Australian Masters Track Championships held at Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney on March 23-26. On the opening day 500m Time Trials Gary Mandy broke his own Australian record before being bundled out by World Champion Geoff Stoker. In Sprint qualifying Mark Jewel went within .008 seconds of breaking the Masters 2 record with a blistering 11.022 and went on to take the first of 5 Gold medals. Jewell was crowned Champion of Champions in his category.
Catherine Hooten rode strongly for Bronze in the Individual Pursuit and Scott Butler took Silver in his Pursuit race. Unfortunately Catherine has the former World Record Holder and World Champion Michelle Crawford in her age group, and Butler has to contend with World Champion David Stevens… but both ICC riders are closing in time-wise on those champions. Neil Arnold continues to set PBs in the pursuit and was only 1 second off a medal ride as well.
The Points Races are where the Illawarra trackies regularly excel, speed and endurance are required as well as astute tactics. Former World Champ Danny Hennessy managed a creditable silver when he lapped the field with Bicisport’s Jayson Austin. Austin, the world hour record holder was in superb form and looked unbeatable. Unfortunately Scott Harrison somersaulted over the top of a crashed rider in the final laps of this race and was lucky not to sustain serious injuries. Neil Arnold rode with courage and clever tactics to steal the bronze medal in the final laps of his Points Race. Mark Jewell and Mark Spindler took Gold and Bronze in the M2 Points Race which was run in a scratch race format due to lack of entries. Spindler took an early flyer in an attempt to steal the victory but was swamped on the line, nevertheless he looked the goods and has a nice turn of speed about him. However the ride of the championships belonged to Scott Butler who managed to lap the field on his own to become the Australian Points Race Champion. In doing so he relegated current National Champion Geoff Baxter to the lower dias, and former World Champion David Stevens to 3rd place. Stevens when interviewed admitted he couldn’t remember the last time he was beaten, and paid credit to Butler whose attack was perfectly timed. Butler managed to do 16 laps solo on a 101 inch gear to lap the field and was still able to cover the last ditched counter-attacks from Stevens. He even found enough energy to contest the final sprint after 80 laps.
The Team’s Pursuits Titles were highly sought after and in the 150+ category our Illawarra team attempted to add the National Title to their recent State Title. Being a National event, the 4 riders can come from any NSW club, and most teams cherry-picked riders from other clubs in an attempt to take Gold in the event. In a brave and audacious move Neil Arnold, Gary Mandy, Tony Burke and Jeff Gray attempted to win the National Title using the same 4 club mates that won the State Title last month. Their bronze medal was a fine reward for their effort, loyalty and team spirit. In the All-Age Team Pursuit Scott Butler and Mark Jewell shored up their chances by combining with Bicisport riders Gavin White and David Stevens. Both these guys are World Champions and the calibre of all 4 riders meant that the result would be a formality. With clinical precision they rode 3:20 to set a National record and take the Australian Title.
It would be fair to say that Illawarra and Bicisport clubs dominated the championships, the Frank Soto skinsuits graced nearly every podium. All the Illawarra team-mates supported and encouraged each other as well as lending each other wheels and equipment. Events like these bring out the best in everyone. Congratulations to all the ICC riders on their success.
ICC RESULTS
Australian Masters Track Championships
Australian Masters Track Championships
DGV February 2012
Mark Jewel M2
GOLD Time Trial
GOLD Sprint
GOLD Points/Scratch Race
GOLD demonstration M1-3 Scratch race
M2 Champion of Champions
Mark Spindler M2
BRONZE Points/Scratch Race
Kylie Hilford W1
GOLD 500m Time Trial
Catherine Hooten W3
BRONZE Individual Pursuit
BRONZE Sprint
Danny Hennessy M3
SILVER Points Race
Scott Butler M4
GOLD Points Race
SILVER Individual Pursuit
Neil Arnold M5
BRONZE Points Race
SILVER demonstration M4-8 Scratch race
Team sprint
SILVER to Gary Mandy, Mark Jewel, (Alan Townsend)
150+ Team Pursuit
BRONZE to ICC team of Neil Arnold, Gary Mandy, Jeff Gray, Tony Burke
All-age Team Pursuit
GOLD to ICC/Bicisport team of Scott Butler, Mark Jewel, (Gavin White, David Stevens)
BRONZE to Mixed team of Danny Hennessy, (Michael Popplewell, Ian Gardiner, Peter O’Connor)
Womens Team Pursuit
GOLD to Catherine Hooten, (Michelle Crawford, Lise Benjamin, Renee Covington).
Other ICC competitors
Scott Harrison M3
Rob Hernandez M2
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- Results SR May 18th 2013
- Scratch Race & ITT 11-5-13
- Battle on the Border triumph for ICC
- Two GC wins for ICC Jnrs at Wagga Tour
- Results TT & SR April 27th
- 20 wins – and two near misses – for Illawarra at ANZAC cycling carnival
- Success for Illawarra in State Hillclimb cships
- Bad weather forces race cancellation
- 2013 Interclub Dates
- Illawarra dominates at regional road cycling titles
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