Written by Mo Sawford

Thanks to Penny Robinson for providing some news from the infield on a very succesful day for the CCCC women at DISC on Sunday, winning three of the five titles on offer.

The Women's Omnium was held on Sunday at DISC.  However when we all arrived, the infamous roof at DISC had struck again – yep, it'd been raining indoors overnight, as there were still numerous spots on the track.  Needless to say, numerous people (including coaches/helpers and spectators) helped with the clean-up.  It was amusing to watch Cam McFarlane (Brunswick) and others clean up the drips on (or above) the blue line around the bend while I warmed up on the rollers … cos they had to take a massive "run-up"!

The first event for the day was going to be a flying 200 m, but obviously that couldn't happen while the track was wet.  So once the worst of the rain had cleared, and the roof dripping had eased, Chief Commissaire Doug Armstrong made the decision that we'd start with the individual pursuits instead, as only the sprinters lane had to be dry for that.  The final decision about the rest of the day would be made after the pursuits had been run.

Thankfully, after the pursuits, the track was dry and the drips had basically stopped – which meant the rest of the day could run as planned.  So the order ended up being: 1500 m individual pursuit, scratch race, flying 200 m, points race (shortened) and 500 m time trial.

It ended up being a great (but long) day.  In addition to thanking the organising committee, officials and sponsors, it is also important to thank the track wiper-upers who ensured the event was able to go ahead!

A brief summary of how the Carnegie riders went in each age division overall is provided below.  The full results (for each race, in each category) is available at http://www.vic.cycling.org.au/?Page=35675 .

Women 15

1^st Courtney Field (9 points) CAR

There might have only been 3 U15 girls racing, but it turned out to be a tight tussell – especially between Courtney and Emma.  In the end, they were equal on points after 5 races, which meant it came down to the 500 m time trial (the final event) to decide on the placings.  Courtney (43.44 sec) just managed to hold off Emma Bilston (43.79 sec)!

Women 17

There were 14 riders racing in the U17 category – including 3 Carnegie riders, Ruby Grieg-Hurtig, Grace Fryer and Yasmin Gugel.  Imogen Jelbart (NTID, coached by Hilton Clarke) won in a dominant display – winning all 5 events, so having the minimum possible 5 points at the end of the day.  There was no separating Yasmin and Ruby in the flying 200 m though – 14.08 sec a piece!

Carnegie overall results (14 starters, 11 finishers):

4^th Ruby Grieg-Hurtig (24 points)

5^th Grace Fryer (34 points)

9^th Yasmin Gugel (44 points)

Women 19

Considering there were only 5 riders in the U19 category, this was probably one of the most exciting races to watch, and there were several tight tussels and very close sprint finishes between Shannon McCurley (LaTrobe City) and one of our newest members, Adele Sylvester (NTID, CCCC).  However Adele managed to clean-sweep the omnium, winning all events – including the pursuit where she won by only 0.2 sec over Shannon!

1^st Adele Sylvester (5 points)  CAR

Women Masters

This was another exciting category to watch (even though I was often warming up on the rollers while they were racing – so I could only see part of the bend and finishing straight!)  There was a wide age spread as well – from 30 years to 65 years (Liz Randall from Blackburn)!  The only Carnegie rider racing in the Masters category was Sue Cox, who only started riding/racing track a year ago and did very well.

1^st was Jenelle Smith from Tasmania on 10 points.

8^th Sue Cox (41 points)

Elite Women

Of the 13 starters in the Elite women category, 6 were from Carnegie, so a great turnout.  It was also very close racing – the 11 riders who completed the scratch race all finished very close together.  It was also exciting to see the 500 m time trial match-up between Jessica Laws and Helen Kelly.  Tess Downing won all events – except for the 500 m, which Jessica won.

Carnegie results

1^st Tess Downing (6 points)

3^rd Jessica Laws (16 points)

4^th Helen Kelly (18 points)

7^th Nicole Whitburn (32 points)

9^th Clare Vlahopoulos (46 points)

11^th Nicole Holt (57 points)

12^th Penny Robinson (64 points)

Steph Ives decided not to race, after not feeling comfortable on the track during the warm-up when dips were still regularly being cleaned up.

Although I raced in this category, I actually got to watch the close scratch race finish, and the last two sprints in the points race.  By that point, I'd managed to hold onto the bunch for a couple of laps (while on 81 gi, which is U17 gearing), get dropped as soon as the pace increased, and then ride around until I was about to be lapped (after ~ 8 laps), then pull out and head back to the rollers to cool-down.

Talking of rollers – I was very impressed to see Tess Downing cooling down on the rollers at one point … no hands, happily chatting on her mobile! …as I'm a newbie, and still wear my helmet!

Even though I came last overall, I was wrapt with how I went.  After two tentative Come ‘N Try Days where I didn't leave the concrete, I eventually made it onto the scary boards last October at the Women's Development Series.  In the flying 200 m on Sunday, I rode all the way to the top of the track before doing an "entry" out of the saddle!

I almost PB'ed in the flying 200 m, and PB'ed in the other two individual events.  However the 500 m TT was the most satisfying, as I broke my PB twice on the same day – by going out too hard in the pursuit!  After posting 50.07 sec in the morning, I was wrapt to finally break the 50-sec barrier with a 48.01 sec in the actual 500 m TT later on in the day.  A huge thanks to Cam who ensured that my time was read out as I rode past the PA system and could hear it … although I only heard the "48" before celebrating!

Congratulations to everyone who competed, and hopefully there were lots of other PB's in the individual events.