Jordan Stannus at the Pacific Youth Track Tournament

Report by Harry Hart and David Stannus

CCCC’s Jordan Stannus and 2 Brunswick Cycling Club boys were given the opportunity to bolster the Track Cycling WA (TCWA) team to contest the 11th Annual Pacific Youth Track Tournament held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  Jordan Stannus added some endurance depth to the four-man under-17 team  while BCC’s Ryan Schilt and Riley Hart rounded out the under-15 quartet.  While riding for TCWA, the team were simply called ‘Australia’ with all members made to feel incredibly welcome by the organisers and all of the riders and support staff.  There were teams from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand as well as strong local teams from Taiwan.

TCWA had finished second twice and third a number of times, including last year, and went with a goal of trying to finish atop the medal table for the first time and take home the impressive trophy.  While there was some discrepancy in the standard of riders, the boys were definitely not going to get it all their own way with some very accomplished riders, particularly at U17 boys level with a very strong Hong Kong team. The oppressively humid conditions on an 333m outdoor track ensured tough racing.

Travel day was a long day with a 4:30am start… we arrived in Kaohsiung just in time for dinner.  The organisers provide all accommodation, transport and meals for the competitors and official entourage, and also looked after the hangers-on.  The meals were a mix of Asian influenced western dishes – lots of pasta, noodles and rice dishes – and went down well with most of the crew.

A typhoon which crossed the China/Vietnam coast was creating changeable weather except for one constant, it was very hot and very humid. With only the one day to acclimatise to the both the track and the humidity – although I am not sure you ever acclimatise to over 80% humidity –  the Aussies had 2 hours to come to grips with the conditions.  After building up the bikes – overseen and assisted by TCWA chief mechanic Bob – all 12 riders quickly got up on the track and sweated through a 30-lap warm-up.

As there are no junior gear restrictions in Asia, the boys were nervous as to what sort of gear they could push, so the remainder of the session saw chainrings and cogs being spun on-and-off to try and get it right.  After a recovery swim in the next door pool and an early dinner, it was off to a nearby might market for some local culture and to buy presents for those left at home.

Day one of competition started with the Team Pursuits.  Ryan and Riley from BCC joined under-15 WA boys Jarrod Karel and Kasey Smith for 2000m of pain.  It was all going swimmingly till coach called for a big closing effort – as Jarrod swung off with two-to-go, Ryan upped the pace opening a gap that Jarrod quickly chased but that saw the two first-year boys hanging-off the back for the last two-laps.  The boy’s missed out on qualifying for the gold ride by less than a second because of the chaos, but pulled it together to win bronze in a time faster than either of the two teams riding for gold.  An opportunity missed.

Jordan anchored the under-17 team in their 3000m TP qualifying effort, but after losing a rider after only a lap and a half and the other two riders more sprinters, even Jordan’s best efforts riding 6 of the 9 laps on the front couldn’t get the boys over the line; they qualified fifth.

Next up, the Time Trials: 500m for the under-15 boys and the four-person girls team (a composite of under-15 and under-17 riders).  Ryan smashed it, winning gold by over a second-and-a-half (37.370) with Kasey just 6/100th-of-a-second out of third (39.690).  Gary Ramshaw then took bronze in the under-17 1000m TT.  Meantime, the girls had IP qualifying and TCWA rider Alicia Buchanan gave herself a shot a gold later in the day, which she duly delivered.

Lastly it was sprint qualifying.  Ryan, buoyed by his efforts in the TT and flourishing on the bigger gears, rode a PB (even though it was an outdoor track) recording a 11.98 – his time would have qualified him fastest of the under-17s boys!  Riley put in a good ride to qualify second fastest with a 13.6 – nowhere near his PB, which just showed how good Ryan’s performance was!  Gary qualified fastest for the under-17s and Suzy Antal also qualified in the top two for the girls.  An early night was had by some exhausted kids (and parents).

Day two of racing was set to include: Sprint finals, boys IP qualifying and finals, team sprints and the eliminations races.  In the Sprints Ryan and Gary took the Gold with Suzy taking Bronze with superior tactics.

IP qualifying and Jarrod and Ryan qualified 1-2 in the under-15 boys while Jordan qualified second in the under-17 boys.  The 15 final saw Jarrod hold off Ryan, who had to back up from his gold medal sprint rides.  Jordan was pipped for gold by a Hong Kong “man mountain” in his IP final but in the process setting a 2:24.8 in hot, windy and very humid conditions – it was about to rain…

Unfortunately the threatening weather finally cracked and the TS and Elim were postponed to the final day.  This didn’t stop a dance off between the Aussies and one of the local teams… got to say, the locals had our crew covered, but it was fun all round as the rain came down!

And what a final day it was!  Sitting pretty atop the medal table, the team only had to keep the momentum going to ensure the trophy would be theirs.  First up, the team sprints and because of the added races, they were straight out finals.  For the 15 boys, it was their smaller gears that again saw them just miss out by 2/10th-of-a-second on third.  The WA 17 boys fared better failing by just 3/10th’s to win gold but happy enough with silver.  The girls also managed a medal with Suzy and Jarrod’s sister Selena taking a well deserved bronze.

Next up the delayed elimination races and Team Australia couldn’t have done much better – the girls went 1-2 courtesy of Alicia and Jess Sellar; then Riley won gold in his favourite event with a gutsy effort – he was in fact second last across the line in more than half the sprints!  This time his smaller gear worked for him allowing him to easily accelerate while the boys pushing big gears fatigued to go out.

Hot on the elims were the points races – and hot was the operative word, with the temperature well into the mid 30′s with 90% humidity.  Jess backed up her elimination second with a fine third in the points. The 17′s race was 16Km – 48 laps in sweltering conditions which saw many drop out.  Jordan, determined to take home a Gold took a leaf from Cameron Meyer’s book taking a lap on the field late in the race and scoring in seven of the eight sprints to win by 14 points – a massive ride! Ryan showed he wasn’t just a sprinter with a powerful display to comfortably win the 15′s points race.

The time lost on day 2 meant that 4 events were crammed into the last morning giving a massive (!) seven minute break between the points and scratch races. Suzy was a late replacement for Jess, who was suffering heat stroke, and rode strongly with Alicia to take another 1-2.  Riley and Jarrod were always up the front in the under-15 race trying to keep the pace high and fatigue the kids riding the big gears.  It paid off handsomely as Jarrod swept around the outside on the back straight to take gold, while Riley scored a close-up fifth.

In the 17s, Jordan backed right up from his marathon effort in the points spending most of the 10Km race on and around the front. With 6 laps to go, his arch rival from Hong Kong looked finished but was able to summon the energy to take the win leaving Jordan happy with Silver.

After another swim and some rest it was off to the official closing function and it was all about local fare and good times with new friends. The kids swapped sweaty skin suits, badges and Facebook addresses as they lapped up some amazing food, which they cooked themselves in a steamer at their seat.

Oh, and the stinky tofu… well that came from a stand outside our motel.  By the time we got back there each night the corridors smelled like a cross between wet-dog and dead rodent… other than that, it was an amazing trip and fantastic experience for all concerned; especially the Victorian boys who bought home: 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze!