The 2022 Federation University Road National Championships were hosted in Ballarat over the weekend with impressive performances from our ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast riders taking home one third of the Gold medal tally.
Australia’s best cyclists competed in the Federation University Road National Championships in a battle for the coveted green and gold National Champions jersey.
Twenty-four of our riders gave it their all throughout the five-day program featuring criterium, road race and time trial events, in the ultimate week of Aussie Cycling.
Australian Cycling Academy CEO Matt Wilson congratulated the athletes and the coaching staff on their most successful RoadNats yet.
“The 2022 Road National Championships will go down as our best ever performance at this event. It’s a great testament to the program, staff and of course athletes who commit so much to achieve these fantastic results. The past two years have been extraordinarily difficult for these athletes who have missed so much competition, so it makes the results this week even more special.
Thanks also to our amazing sponsors who have shown unwavering support over the past two years.” Matt said.
Day one saw Anya Louw claim her maiden Australian title, winning the under-23 women’s time trial championship with a time of 43:31.17, averaging 39.4km/h.
A special win for Anya, something she’s had her heart set on for a while.
“I’ve never won an Australian national title before. I’m in the same age group as what Sarah Gigante has been in over all the years. I’ve come second many times but never got on the top step, so it means so much to me,” Anya said.
“It gives me a lot of confidence. I worked really hard for this event. Hopefully, good things are going to come in 2022.”
To complete a magic day for our riders, Hamish McKenzie and Isabelle Carnes also won the junior U19 men’s and women’s championships.
Friday’s criterium saw continued success for the team with Anya Louw claiming the U23 women’s national title, her second for the week.
In the junior men Hamish McKenzie also claimed his second national title winning the U19 men’s crit with a long-rang solo move.
With four laps remaining, Hamish held a slender lead of 15 seconds but the peloton had been whittled down to just 10 chasers.
Hamish’s lead grew to over 20 seconds by the time he received the bell, it was clear he would claim his second gold of the week.
“It was challenging for sure; the course kind of suits the breakaway in under-19s because of the gearing down the back straight. Nobody can really go any faster than anyone else, so I was just trying to push up the front and widen the gap on every lap as much as possible and just try to hold on.
“I won the TT on Wednesday and the national pursuit on the track. I love the road a bit more than the track so any result on the road is big for me.”
The final events of the weekend would see the riders battle it out in the Road Race events.
Time Trial champion Issy Carnes took third place on the podium in the U19 women’s road race after 70km of racing around Mount Buninyong.
In the U19 men’s road race Cameron Rogers took the win in a bunch sprint.
Rogers was the quickest in the tight finish to the line ahead of fellow Canberran Oscar Chamberlain (Team CCS Canberra) and Campbell Palmer (VA Pro Racing) at the end of the 104-kilometre race.
In the Elite men Kane Richards placed 4th and also took out the King of the Mountain award for the race.
This weekend our riders with compete in the Tour Down Under the first National Road Series event for the year.
