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NSW Championships - NE
Kurrajong, Australia, August 19, 2007
Keeping it in the family
By Brad Hooker in Kurrajong
Northern Sydney brother and sister duo of Brendan and Katie Jones have taken out their respective divisions in the Kurrajong Classic, which also doubled as the NSW state titles on a tough and hilly course in atrocious weather conditions.
With last year's winner John Ebeling a non starter today, due to competing in the Australian cycling grand prix in Victoria, the favourite going into the event was the inform Nash Kent, after winning the Ride for Life in Centennial Park, Sydney only a few weeks before. However it would be his team-mate Brendan Jones who would eventually come up trumps after attacking in the final lap.
How it unfolded
The Elite race got of to a slow start for most of the competitors. A break away of five riders formed in the first lap and quickly gained a five minute advantage as the main field was reluctant to take up the case due to the poor weather conditions. It would take until the end of the third lap for the main peloton to reel the break back. Before anyone could catch their, eight riders rode off the front and gained a gap that would see them away until the finish.
The final ascent of the main climb blew the lead group a part Blair Martin lead Brendan Jones as they crested the climb with Brent Skippen & Nash Kent a further 30 metres back. The word from crackling CB voices coming from the commissaries radio's was the group had reformed just over the climb. However, with 15km to go Brendan Jones attacked the group, with Blair Martin the only rider to stay with him.
With five kilometers remaining in the 165km event, Jones attacked his break away companion building a lead in the dying stages of the race to eventually take the win in both the Kurrajong classic and the U/23 NSW road title with a minutes advantage over Blair. With just two kilometers remaining Blair punctured his rear wheel, no doubt due to the amount of debris that had washed onto the road from the rain. During their escape the pair had built up enough advantage that Blair was able to hold on for second and take the NSW elite title.
Earlier in the day Brendan's little sister Katie rode to a convincing win in the women's event ahead of Ashlee Ankudinoff (St George) and Lauren Kitchen (Port Macquarie) who has just returned from a successful trip to the junior world titles that saw her in the final break of the day, to eventually finish seventh. Showing the strength in depth that NSW has in women's cycling, all the place getters in the combined elite and U19 women's Kurrajong classic, were from the U19 division, no doubt these three have a bright future to look forward to in the sport.
The U/19 men's was dominated by 3 riders, Dale Scarfe, Richard Lang and Brodie Talbot stamped their authority on the race early in the race. With Scarf and Lang both members of the real Aussie kid's development squad Brodie was always going to have a hard race, especially with both team-mates recently returning from a successful trip to America where they raced a series of high profile criteriums on the US cuircuit.
Coming into the finish the three riders were all still together, Dale opened the sprint up early and showing the form which gained him second in the elite and U19 Ride for Life criterium just weeks ago, he took a convincing win, with Lang finishing second and Brodie suffering from cramps to take 3rd.
Daniel Vanechop kept Northern Sydney on the top step of the podium with a convincing win in Division 2, powering away in the closing km's to hold off Ben Tavers (Peloton Sports). In Division 3, Grant Fraser (Central Coasts) upset the Northern Suburbs near perfect winning streak by taking out the Division 3 ahead of Sam Moorhouse (NSCC), who was clearly happy with his ride, giving a little 2 hand salute to celebrate as he crossed the line.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Brad Hooker/www.cyclingimagesonline.com
- Riders awaiting the start in the U/19 mens race.
- Local Councillor Michael Vassili, drops the flag for the start of the Elite & U/19 Women.
- The women weren't in any hurry to race up the first climib of the day, the weather may have been a factor.
- No. 46 - Anna Beck (Manly) in the bunch over the climb the first time.
- Dale Scarfe (Central Coast) has the U/19's strung out up the climb for the second time.
- Brodie Talbot (Macarthur) looking comfortable in the group prior to his escape with Dale Scarfe & Richard Lang
- Anthony Green (Parramatta), leading division 2 over the KOM on lap 2. Unfortunately 1 rider had slipped away for the KOM prize.
- Nash Kent (NSCC) had his rain jacket on at the start as the conditions got worse. Can anyone stop Nash from his winning streak.
- Garry Chapman (NSCC) & Daniel Vanechop (NSCC) giving the Division 2 riders something top chase. This was the start of a very successful day for Northern Suburbs.
- The eventual womens winner Katie Jones (NSCC) joking around, again. Whilst Aahlee Ankudinoff (St George) concentrates on the task at hand.
- Paul McDonald (Parramatta) sits under the tarp to try & keep dry, whilst keeping tab's on the lap board.
- The main bunch in the Elite race chasing 5 riders in the first lap. It took a further 2 laps to bring back the almost 5 minute lead.
- Richard Lang (Lidcombe), Dale Scarfe ( Central Coast) & Broidie Talbot (Macarthur) had extending their lead on the rest of the U/19 men.
- Division 2 Kurrajong Classic podium. Daniel Vanechop (NSCC) 1st, Ben Travers (Peleton) 2nd, John Peppard (Eastern Suburbs) 3rd, Stephen Griffiths (St George) 4th & Anthony Green (Parramatta) 5th
- The 4 leaders in the Elite race, Nathan Germaine on the front with big Troy Glennan (Sutherland) sitting on the back. These guys were prominent in everyday today.
- Katie Jones (NSCC) sprints to a great win the womens race with Aahlee Ankudinoff (St George) 2nd & Lauren Kitchen (Port Macquarie) 3rd.
- David Treacy (Randwick) chasing hard with what was left of the main group.
- Myfanwy Galloway (Canberra), finished the day with the Queen Of the Mountain award.
- Womens Kurrajong Classic Podium , 1st Katie Jones, 2nd Ashlee Ankudinoff, 3rd Lauren Kitchen, 4th Vanessa McDonald, 5th Tanya Newton
- U/19 NSW Road championship podium 1st Katie Jones, 2nd Ashlee Ankudinoff & 3rd Lauren Kitchen
- Womens NSW Road championship podium 1st Vanessa McDonald, 2nd Tanya Newton & 3rd Tara O'Brien
- Dale Scarfe (Central Coast) sprints to a convincing win in the U/19 men, with Richard Lang 2nd & Brodie Talbot 3rd
- U/19 NSW Road championship podium, Dale Scarfe 1st, Richard Lang 2nd & Brodie Talbot 3rd
- David Rae (Marconi) wishing the weather was more like his armwarmers.
- Grant Frazer (Central Coast) took a great win in Dision 3, with NSCC rider Sam Moorhouse a distant 2nd.
- Jason Lindsay (Penrith) couldn't use his local knowledge to his advantage today.
- Division 3 Kurrajong Classic podium 1st Grant Frazer, 2nd Sam Moorhouse, 3rd David Sitsky, 4th Kor Sietsma & 5th Phil Scheidegger
- Nathan Germaine (Peleton) trying to jump away with just over 1 lap to go.
- Brent Skippen (Clarence St), leading Brendan Brooks (Port Macquarie) & Troy Glennan just poking his head into frame.
- Brendan Brooks (Port Macquarie) looks like he is enjoying the poor conditions.
- Nash Kent on the back as they chase Nathan Germaine around the corner. Today wasn’t the day for Nash.
- Aiden Lefmann (MTBA) enjoying his day on the bitumen, better than having mud in your face hey Aiden.
- Brendan Jones pushing it on the final climb , what you can't see is Blair Martin 15 metres in front trying to steel a win.
- As Brendan comes over the line he wonders were Blair Martin got to.
- If you look hard at the rear wheel you can see , Blair suffered a puncture with only 2km to go. What an unlucky day for him. But it was a 1, 2 for NSCC.
- Brendan Jones making it a family double , he couldn’t let Katie have all the glory.
- Brent Skippen (Clarence St) & Brendan Brooks (Port Macquarie) rolled over the line for 3rd & 4th place with a shattered Nash Kent rounding out the top 5
- This use to be the carpark , now looking more like a swamp.
- Mens podium , 1st Brendan Jones, 2nd Blair Martin, 3rd Brent Skippen, 4th Brendan Brooks & 5th Nash Kent.
Results
NSW State Road Championships Men Elite - 165km 1 Blair Martin (NSCC) 2 Brent Skippen (Clarence St) 3 Nash Kent (NSCC) U/23 - 165km 1 Brendan Jones (NSCC) 2 Brendan Brooks (Port Macquarie) U/19 - 132km 1 Dale Scarfe (Central Coast) 2 Richard Lang (Lidcombe) 3 Brodie Talbot (Macarthur) Women Elite - 99km 1 Vanessa McDonald (Coffs Harbour) 2 Tanya Newton (Randwick Botany) 3 Tara O’Brien (Tuggeranong Vikings) U/19 - 99km 1 Katie Jones (NSCC) 2 Ashlee Ankudinoff (St George) 3 Lauren Kitchen (Port Macquarie) Kurrajong Classic Road Race Elite/U23 Men - 165km 1 Brendan Jones (NSCC) 2 Blair Martin (NSCC) 3 Brent Skippen (Clarence St) 4 Brendan Brooks (Port Macquarie) 5 Nash Kent (NSCC) 6 Shaun Lewis (Southern Highlands) 7 Troy Glennan (Sutherland) Women - 99km 1 Katie Jones (NSCC) 2 Ashlee Ankudinoff (St George) 3 Lauren Kitchen (Port Macquarie) 4 Vanessa McDonald (Coffs Harbour) 5 Tanya Newton (Randwick Botany) 6 Tara O’Brien (Tuggeranong Vikings) Division 2 - 99km 1 Daniel Vanechop (NSCC) 2 Ben Travers (Peleton Sports) 3 John Peppard (Eastern Suburbs) 4 Stephen Griffiths (St George) 5 Anthony Green (Parramatta) Division 3 - 66km 1 Grant Fraser (Central Coast) 2 Sam Moorhouse (NSCC) 3 David Sitsky (Sydney CC) 4 Kor Sietsma (Peleton Sports) 5 Phil Scheidegger (NSCC) 6 Campbell Dawson (Randwick Botany) 7 Craig Mcalister (Bathurst) 8 Matthew Hennessy (Nowra) 9 Michael Lawson (Manly Warringah) 10 Nosh Mistry (St George)
