TRACK CYCLING

Cycling superstar heads Australian team heading to Invercargill

By Cycling New Zealand

Double Olympic and multi-world champion Anna Meares will headline the Australian track cycling team to contest the Oceania Championships at Invercargill next month.

Meares, who has 11 world titles and 25 world championships medals to her credit spanning an illustrious 12 year career, will compete in the continental championships from 8-11 October at the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome.

The championships provide direct entry for winners in some events to next year’s world championship, and act as an important shakedown to the upcoming World Cup series including the second round at Cambridge in December.

The 31 year old Meares, the current keirin world champion, heads a powerful Australian sprint group that includes double world champion and London Olympic medallist Shane Perkins, Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallists Matthew Glaetzer, Scott Sunderland and Stephanie Morton and Olympic medallist Kaarle McCulloch.

Both Australia and New Zealand will target the key Olympic events of the individual sprint, team sprint and keirin for the direct qualification to the all-important world championships in London next March.
Australia has selected a young group for their endurance races at Invercargill, as has their New Zealand counterparts.

As well as the official national teams from Australia and New Zealand, there are a number of talented riders competing for their respective cycling centres and states on both sides of the Tasman. There are 161 riders competing in the four-day competition.
 
The full Australian team is: Rohan Wight, Scott Sunderland, James Robinson, Alex Morgan, Sam Welsford, Jackson Law, Matthew Glaetzer, Peter Lewis, Jacob Schmid, Nathan Hart, Shane Perkins, Mitchell Bullen, Jackson Law, Alexander Porter, Macey Stewart, Georgia Baker, Elissa Wundersitz, Lauren Perry, Anna Meares, Stephanie Morton, Kaarle McCulloch, Caitlin Ward.
Tickets can be purchased from www.ticketdirect.co.nz and also available from SIT Zero Fees Velodrome Invercargill.
 
CAPTION: Anna Meares competing in the 2013 Oceania Championships in the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome at Invercargill.
IMAGE Credit: Dianne Manson