The small township of Dookie, just outside Shepparton in Victoria, is playing host to the 2011 Oceania Road Championships and it today provided a perfect day for racing. Combine the ideal conditions with the line up of riders including Rochelle Gilmore, Chloe Hosking and the current Australia Champion Alexis Rhodes, the Oceania Championship road race was always going to be a cracking event.
A strong field of 64 women took to the testing road race course and midway through the 5 lap, 116km race Shara Gillow and Peta Mullens made their intentions clear when they opened up a lead of over a minute. This lead was short lived as the peloton reeled the two back in and the majority of the riders raced together until the dying stages of the event. On the last lap, Gillow, who has only been competing in the sport since 2008, showed all class riding away from Bridie O'Donnell and Chloe McConville finishing in a time of 3:14:47.
After the event Gillow revealed that additional confidence may have spurred her on throughout the race.
"I gained a bit of confidence after taking out the time trial championship on Thursday, and it's great to be both the time trial and road race champion," she said.
Results
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