CycleSport Victoria has announced the 2008 Victorian track cycling team what will contest the 2008 Australian Track Cycling Championships in Sydney from February 4-10. The 31-member team was presented at the conclusion of the 2008 Victorian Track Championships held at the Darebin International Sports Centre on the weekend.
The Elite field will be headlined by former Pursuit World Champion Katie Mactier (Carnegie-Caulfield CC), sprint stars Mark French (St Kilda CC) and Shane Perkins (Carnegie-Caulfield CC), multiple former World Champion Shane Kelly, 2007 Junior Track World Champions Glenn O'Shea (Bendigo & District CC) and Leigh Howard, Commonwealth Games Points gold medallist Sean Finning (Castlemaine CC) as well as rising star Tess Downing (Carnegie-Caulfield CC).
The Under 19 team features some of the most talented young cyclists in Australia in Trevor Griffiths (Shepparton CC), Ben Sanders (Carnegie-Caulfield CC), Jamie Crass (Bendigo & District CC) and Toby Dite (Hawthorn CC), whilst the Junior women's field will be lead by multiple Victorian champions Laine Hammond (Northcote CC) and Carly McCoombe (Bendigo & District CC).
At the 2007 National Championships also held in Sydney, Victoria won 36 medals including 16 Gold. They also claimed most of the silverware including The Robina Joy Trophy - the best performed state in the Elite Men’s events, The Southcott Cup - for winning the Open Teams Pursuit, The Bill Young Trophy - for winning the Men Under 19 Teams Pursuit.
Leigh Howard also received the ultimate accolade by being crowned the 2007 Champion of Champions after winning five Gold medals and Michael Gallagher was awarded the 'AWD Ride of the Series' for his outstanding ride in the LC 1 4000mt Individual Pursuit shattering his previous World Record with a time of 4.40.378.
Team Manager Ian Maher believed that if the high quality racing seen at the recent Victorian Track Championships is anything to go by, the Sydney crowd will be in for a treat when the Victorian's hit the Dunc Grey boards. "This is a very strong team we have picked for the nationals and I expect it to be as good as, if not better than our strong performance last year," Maher stated.
The team will finalise its preparations with training sessions at the indoor velodrome at DISC in Thornbury before heading to Sydney in two weeks.
2008 Official Team:
Elite Men: Zak Dempster, Sean Finning, Mark French, Leigh Howard, Shane Kelly, James Langedyk, Joel Leonard, Jason Niblett, Glenn O'Shea, Shane Perkins, Steven Sansonetti. Adrian Sansonetti
Elite Women: Jessica Berry, Tess Downing, Lisa Friend, Helen Kelly, Katie Mactier, Esther Pugh-Uren.
Men Under 19: Jamie Crass, Toby Dite, Silas Fisher, Lewis Fulcher, Trevor Griffiths, Daniel Mcintyre, Ben Sanders.
Women Under 19: Laine Hammond, Kendelle Hodges, Carly Mccoombe, Naomi Pinto.
AWD: Michael Eaddy, Michael Gallagher.
