Sydney Uni – Staminade were well represented at the 2018 NSW Metropolitan and Country Road Championships on Saturday. Team members racing were Amy Vesty, Angela Smith, Chloe Heffernan, Megan Scott and Georgie Whitehouse.
The race consisted of 8 laps around Sydney International Regatta centre, Penrith Lakes. It was a relatively flat course with a few technical corners before a straight finish. The start of the race saw windy conditions and a bad crash in an earlier event which saw the kermesse style road race reduced to 40km. An intense start saw Amy and Abby attempting to establish a few breakaways together but nothing stuck and after each attempt it was once again gruppo compatto, as the bunch seemed content to leave it to a bunch sprint in the windy conditions.
Leading into the final corners, Oliver’s rider Portia Rennie lead into the sprint with Georgie on her wheel and there was some argy-bargy between riders fighting for 3rd wheel. In the end Abby secured 3rd wheel position and followed Georgie as she took the lead in the straight, Angela managed to come over Abby to claim 2nd place. Abby held off Vie13Kom rider Bridget Bremner and took 3rd place.
The result – one, two, and three for Sydney Uni – Staminade (Georgie 1st, Angela 2nd, Abby 3rd in Metropolitan), and Chloe sprinted to 2nd in the Country Division.
The end of July beckons, with a couple more races (Ride for Robbie, and the NSW Team Time Trial Championships) before the first women’s National Road Series at the end of July in the Tweed Valley.
