QUEENSLAND'S elite cyclists will arrive in Townsville this weekend to
compete in the Senior State Track Championships starting tomorrow.
Riders from under-19 through to elite men's and women's divisions
will compete in sprint, time trial, pursuit and keirin events
throughout the five-day championships.
Racing will start at 6pm
tomorrow with the finals of the 500m and 1000m time trials and the
7.5km, 10km and 15km scratch race events.
Sunday will see riders qualify for the 2000m, 3000m, 4000m pursuits and the 200m sprint events.
Monday will be another day of finals in the sprints and pursuits while Tuesday will be team pursuits and pointscore rounds.
The
final day on Wednesday will see qualifying for the team sprints and the
keirin heats with all finals in each event held directly after.
Townsville Cycling Club president Dave Restall was expecting competition to be tight in all divisions.
Restall said the under-19s will be especially tight.
'A lot of juniors will be moving up to the under-19 age group and they are all enthusiastic, it will be tight,'' Restall said.
Rockhampton's
Rebecca Stephens, who medalled with Kerrie Meares in the team sprint
event at the World Cup, is expected to feature in the women's under 19s.
In the men's under-19 David Edward from Atherton has been hard at
training after recently returning from a tour of New Zealand.
''He's a former national gold medallist for the juniors and has made an easy transition into the seniors,'' Restall said.
Veteran
rider Shaun Wilson has been tipped to take gold in most of the elite
men's events. Wilson recently placed fifth in sprint event at the World
Masters Games.
Townsville rider Will Draffen made a return to the
sport just eight weeks ago but was expected to be a tough competitor
and another medal chance.
Draffen, a state and two-time
international title holder in the under-19s, took a break to
concentrate on university study. The 22-year-old came back after
graduating mid-year from mechanical engineering.
''It was a bit of a shock, I didn't realise how much fitness I had lost,'' he said.
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