Sister act back on track

Kerrie Meares congratulates sister Anna (Image credit: Mark Gunter)

With the 2005-06 track season about to get underway, track sisters Anna and Kerrie Meares go into the season prepared for a busy schedule of racing that includes the Commonwealth Games, Oceania Games and world championships. Having recovered from a serious back injury which stalled progress last season, Kerrie Meares believes she's in the best form of her life whereas sister Anna is struggling a little with her own back complaint. Both are keen to perform in 2005-06 and spoke with Cyclingnews' Les Clarke about how it's all looking.

It's going to be a busy season for the Rockhampton sisters, with world cup rounds in Moscow, Manchester and Los Angeles, plus the Oceania Games and Commonwealth Games. This is followed by the world championships in Bordeaux, which signifies the end of the track season - but that's not all; in between these events there are domestic races such as the Sydney Thousand carnival, plus state and national championships where qualifying times can be recorded for the big international meets. So the pressure's never really off.

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"I'll still be doing training and development rides to maintain my fitness over Christmas," said older sister Kerrie, indicating that there's not much time for rest in a packed schedule. "January 2 next year I have state championships then about a week after that Anna and I have the Los Angeles round of the world cup." Throughout February it's national championships time and then into the Commonwealth Games, where both sisters will be favourites for the sprint and 500m time trial titles. Do they think it will come down to a sibling sprint final? "It's definitely enticing. It's like a golden scenario for my parents - it'd be awesome for both of us to ride in the final; but we've got big competition. Current world champion, current Olympic sprint champion..." says Kerrie, something backed up by Anna. "We've got the current world champion, current Olympic champion, current world record holder and current Commonwealth Games champion. That's the thing - people say it's just the Commonwealth Games, but there's the cream of the crop going to Melbourne for track cycling."