O'Shea claims men's Omnium championship

In the elite men's omnium South Australia's Glenn O'Shea dominated across the two days, winning four of the six events in the points, elimination, pursuit and time trial and finishing runner up in the flying lap. His only lapse was a sixth place in the scratch race.

The omnium is a true test of stamina, speed and endurance with competitors racing in six events over two days - the flying 250m lap, points, elimination and scratch races, the individual pursuit and a time trial. Points are awarded to each rider based on placings in the events and the cyclist with the lowest tally at the end is the winner.

"The main reason I came here was to win obviously, but to also post some good times and I think I did that across the board in the two days," said O'Shea, who also claimed the title in 2008. "I only had one little slip up in the scratch race, so I am pretty happy."

He finished on 12 points, six points clear of reigning champion Scott Law (NSW) who posted wins in the flying lap and scratch races to take the silver medal on 17 points.

O'Shea's South Australian teammate Alex Edmondson (18 points) collected four second placings on his way to taking the bronze medal.

Since returning to the bike 12 months ago following bouts of chicken pox and glandular fever, O'Shea has continued to surprise himself and impress onlookers.

"Twelve months ago I wasn't even riding my bike so to where I have come now, I am pretty happy. It is definitely going in the right direction, that's for certain," said O'Shea who claimed the pursuit and Madison (with Edmondson) gold medals at last month's Astana round of the UCI Track World Cup.

"It's the old cliché of taking it one step at a time, but this year I really have been ticking the boxes and today is another one ticked.

"I have another next month in the World Cup and then after that, we will just see what comes of it," he said.

O'Shea now turns his attention to Saturday night's Madison championships where he will partner Edmondson in a strong field headlined by reigning world champions Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer

"Alex is in good form as well, but we will be up against the world champs, but in saying that I have raced with and against them both and I have beaten them before, so we will of course be disappointed if we don't win," said O'Shea.

Reigning Oceania champion Ashlee Ankudinoff's return to competitive racing continues to gain momentum with the Sydney rider reclaiming the Australian women's title in a powerful performance.

Ankudinoff claimed wins in the flying lap, pursuit and time trial, third place in the points race and was fourth in the elimination. She also finished sixth in the scratch race.

"I couldn't ask for any better really, it is so good to see the hard work and no short cuts in training has really paid off," said Ankudinoff, who won three of six events across the two days.

Ankudinoff, a member of Australia's 2010 team pursuit world champion lineup and the 2010 Australian omnium champion, missed most of 2011 due to a sciatic nerve injury.

She returned to the international scene last month at the Astana round of the UCI Track World Cup where she contested the team pursuit, before winning the omnium and scratch race at the Oceania Championships in Invercargill last month.

"After the Commonwealth Games in 2010, I made the decision to have time off the bike if I wanted any chance of contesting the Olympics," said the twenty-one-year-old. "Now I have been training for about eight months for this and it was always going to be hard to come back into the team environment as there are so many riders now.

"I knew I had the whole year of 2011 to train and I had all the faith in Gary Sutton and he had the faith and backed me too.

"So to come back and really stamp my mark here, it just shows that I am back and ready for a good 2012," said Ankudinoff.

West Australian Isabella King and South Australian Annette Edmondson each finished on 21 points but with King awarded the silver medal due to a faster time when the pursuit, flying lap and 500 metre time trial times were tallied.