Racing kangaroo’s Bathurst 2011
NSW hill climb championships, Bathurst Criterium series and the Bathurst-2-Blayney
8th April 2011
On Friday the 8th of April we all travelled to the gold diggers cabins in Bathurst. Everyone was put into their rooms all the girls in one and as many under 19/17 boys in one with the under 15 boys and the leftovers in the other. After our rooms were sorted out and most of us had rolled around the hill climb course, the girls headed to buy ribbons (green, yellow, black and pink) to wear in the races ahead. Sara telling us it was compulsory to have them at every race. We all went to dinner in the auditorium at gold diggers and had the introduction to our first official event as “The Racing Kangaroo’s”. After Kurt, Mark, Donna and Mick told us what the weekend was going to entail we were all handed our Racing Kangaroo kits and copies of our rider agreements. Well everyone except Blake who was given Kurt’s NAB drink bottle, until the end of the meeting he was left without a kit. As well as excitement being handed the racing kits did cause chaos. We spent probably an hour running around trying on different sizes and swapping jerseys until everyone was sure they had the perfect size for their next orders. We were all looking forward to showing up at the race tomorrow in our bright yellow and green kits and racing as a team for the first time.
9th April 2011
Saturday was the first day of the Bathurst racing; today we would race in the NSW hill climb championships and the Bathurst Criterium series. We all rode down to the course then signed on, so we would be ready for our early start. The NSW hill climb championship was the first event of the weekend, which is a 4.2km climb, with 284 riders competing. Starting at 9:00 the 14 under 17’s women began to make there way to the hill climb marshalling area. Danica was the first under 17’s women Racing kangaroo and the first under 17’s women to compete in the NSW hill climb championship, she DNF due to mechanical problems. I was the next Racing Kangaroo in the under 17’s women to compete, I overtook the riders in front of me and finished in 13:19:67 placing 10th. Sara was the last of the under 17’s women Racing kangaroo to start the hill climb she finished in 13:12:43 placing 8th.
Our Criterium wasn’t until 11:25 so we did get a slight break, we had 10 laps with two sprint priems (7 laps to go and 4 laps to go). Kurt gave us a talk before we started warming up. He basically told me us to try and make everyone else work and then smash it at the end. Sara and I were off zero and Danica was off + 1:00 we had to try and make sure they didn’t catch us until after the first preim. Half of the first group were left behind, including me, on the s bends. In the end Sara did great coming 1st in 22:28:40, Danica 11th 24:33:40, and I came 12th 24:52:40.
Most of us waited to watch the under 19’s race and then headed back to the cabins to shower and ‘relax’ for the next day would be just as hard. While some went to a party the rest of us went to the auditorium for another talk about the day we still had ahead then ate dinner and went back to the cabins for much needed sleep!
10th April 2011
The Bathurst-2-Blaney was held on Sunday, ever since last year when I raced the B2B for the first time I had been looking forward to this day. The under 19’s had to leave a lot earlier then the rest of us to make it to the long course start. They rode 110km while the rest of us did 70km. After packing our cycling bags we all were loaded into the cars and began to drive to Blayney, while most cars obeyed by the road rules we moved the road blocks and parked in the no parking zones. Donna and Kurt got lost on the way, lucky for us they got to the Racing Kangaroo tent with 20mins to spare. (Because most of our bikes were in the van) We all made our way to the starting zones after plenty of photos had been taken, of course we were all trying to keep up with Sara while she road through the whole crowd to the front of the line. We started in the 35-40 wave but everyone was split up quickly. Sara Kept up with the front of the bunch for a fair way, while Danica, Tori, their dads and I made our way through different bunches. It didn’t take long for all of us to be spread out through the different groups as well. It rained for most the time but the wind wasn’t to bad, there was also a lot of roadwork along the way all of these conditions would have effected the times we got. Maybe in a good way. We ended up getting 3rd, 4th and 5th in the under 17’s women all finishing in under 2hrs 10 minutes. Danica was the first of the under 17’s women Racing Kangaroo to finish placing 3rd in 2:06:30, Sara and I crossed the line together Sara getting 4th and me getting 5th in 2:09:37.
Overall everyone did well and it was a good experience for our first events as a team. I would like to thank Kurt, Donna, Mick, Mark, our parents and all of our sponsors this would have been a totally different experience without you. Thankyou.
Bathurst NSWIS training camp.
10th to the 15th April 2011
After the Blayney to Bathurst we all headed back to the cabins and had hot showers, washed our kits, either packed our bags and left or just moved rooms for the camp. The camp didn’t officially start until 4pm so the Kangaroos that where staying for the week bought some hungry jacks and waited for everyone else to come.
When 4pm finally came we had to go to the auditorium and meet Kurt or Mel to sign on for the camp. For some of us (i.e. me) we had to fill the whole form out because our mother hadn’t. When the coaches were sure most people were accounted for they held an induction for the week that lay ahead. Kurt Pollock, Natalie Bates, Mick Cadger and Mick Marshall explained different parts of the week. After that everyone put there bikes in the auditorium and headed for dinner in the dining room then we went to bed.
During the week we learnt many new skills for both on and off the bike. The week entailed;
Monday- a 40km recovery ride, then descending and cornering skills in the afternoon all together 58km.
Tuesday- SE up the NSW hill climb course, in the afternoon we road out to Rockley hill all together 75km.
Wednesday- bunch ride to cross roads 60km then individual tt 7.5km and a team tt 15km, all together 105 km.
Thursday- bunch ride to Perthvile then intervels 3x4 minute, in the afternoon group and individual ladder sprints all together 75km.
Friday- recovery ride to the track, skills all together 20km.
Thanks for everything,
Taylia.
NSW hill climb championships, Bathurst Criterium series and the Bathurst-2-Blayney
8th April 2011
On Friday the 8th of April we all travelled to the gold diggers cabins in Bathurst. Everyone was put into their rooms all the girls in one and as many under 19/17 boys in one with the under 15 boys and the leftovers in the other. After our rooms were sorted out and most of us had rolled around the hill climb course, the girls headed to buy ribbons (green, yellow, black and pink) to wear in the races ahead. Sara telling us it was compulsory to have them at every race. We all went to dinner in the auditorium at gold diggers and had the introduction to our first official event as “The Racing Kangaroo’s”. After Kurt, Mark, Donna and Mick told us what the weekend was going to entail we were all handed our Racing Kangaroo kits and copies of our rider agreements. Well everyone except Blake who was given Kurt’s NAB drink bottle, until the end of the meeting he was left without a kit. As well as excitement being handed the racing kits did cause chaos. We spent probably an hour running around trying on different sizes and swapping jerseys until everyone was sure they had the perfect size for their next orders. We were all looking forward to showing up at the race tomorrow in our bright yellow and green kits and racing as a team for the first time.
9th April 2011
Saturday was the first day of the Bathurst racing; today we would race in the NSW hill climb championships and the Bathurst Criterium series. We all rode down to the course then signed on, so we would be ready for our early start. The NSW hill climb championship was the first event of the weekend, which is a 4.2km climb, with 284 riders competing. Starting at 9:00 the 14 under 17’s women began to make there way to the hill climb marshalling area. Danica was the first under 17’s women Racing kangaroo and the first under 17’s women to compete in the NSW hill climb championship, she DNF due to mechanical problems. I was the next Racing Kangaroo in the under 17’s women to compete, I overtook the riders in front of me and finished in 13:19:67 placing 10th. Sara was the last of the under 17’s women Racing kangaroo to start the hill climb she finished in 13:12:43 placing 8th.
Our Criterium wasn’t until 11:25 so we did get a slight break, we had 10 laps with two sprint priems (7 laps to go and 4 laps to go). Kurt gave us a talk before we started warming up. He basically told me us to try and make everyone else work and then smash it at the end. Sara and I were off zero and Danica was off + 1:00 we had to try and make sure they didn’t catch us until after the first preim. Half of the first group were left behind, including me, on the s bends. In the end Sara did great coming 1st in 22:28:40, Danica 11th 24:33:40, and I came 12th 24:52:40.
Most of us waited to watch the under 19’s race and then headed back to the cabins to shower and ‘relax’ for the next day would be just as hard. While some went to a party the rest of us went to the auditorium for another talk about the day we still had ahead then ate dinner and went back to the cabins for much needed sleep!
10th April 2011
The Bathurst-2-Blaney was held on Sunday, ever since last year when I raced the B2B for the first time I had been looking forward to this day. The under 19’s had to leave a lot earlier then the rest of us to make it to the long course start. They rode 110km while the rest of us did 70km. After packing our cycling bags we all were loaded into the cars and began to drive to Blayney, while most cars obeyed by the road rules we moved the road blocks and parked in the no parking zones. Donna and Kurt got lost on the way, lucky for us they got to the Racing Kangaroo tent with 20mins to spare. (Because most of our bikes were in the van) We all made our way to the starting zones after plenty of photos had been taken, of course we were all trying to keep up with Sara while she road through the whole crowd to the front of the line. We started in the 35-40 wave but everyone was split up quickly. Sara Kept up with the front of the bunch for a fair way, while Danica, Tori, their dads and I made our way through different bunches. It didn’t take long for all of us to be spread out through the different groups as well. It rained for most the time but the wind wasn’t to bad, there was also a lot of roadwork along the way all of these conditions would have effected the times we got. Maybe in a good way. We ended up getting 3rd, 4th and 5th in the under 17’s women all finishing in under 2hrs 10 minutes. Danica was the first of the under 17’s women Racing Kangaroo to finish placing 3rd in 2:06:30, Sara and I crossed the line together Sara getting 4th and me getting 5th in 2:09:37.
Overall everyone did well and it was a good experience for our first events as a team. I would like to thank Kurt, Donna, Mick, Mark, our parents and all of our sponsors this would have been a totally different experience without you. Thankyou.
Bathurst NSWIS training camp.
10th to the 15th April 2011
After the Blayney to Bathurst we all headed back to the cabins and had hot showers, washed our kits, either packed our bags and left or just moved rooms for the camp. The camp didn’t officially start until 4pm so the Kangaroos that where staying for the week bought some hungry jacks and waited for everyone else to come.
When 4pm finally came we had to go to the auditorium and meet Kurt or Mel to sign on for the camp. For some of us (i.e. me) we had to fill the whole form out because our mother hadn’t. When the coaches were sure most people were accounted for they held an induction for the week that lay ahead. Kurt Pollock, Natalie Bates, Mick Cadger and Mick Marshall explained different parts of the week. After that everyone put there bikes in the auditorium and headed for dinner in the dining room then we went to bed.
During the week we learnt many new skills for both on and off the bike. The week entailed;
Monday- a 40km recovery ride, then descending and cornering skills in the afternoon all together 58km.
Tuesday- SE up the NSW hill climb course, in the afternoon we road out to Rockley hill all together 75km.
Wednesday- bunch ride to cross roads 60km then individual tt 7.5km and a team tt 15km, all together 105 km.
Thursday- bunch ride to Perthvile then intervels 3x4 minute, in the afternoon group and individual ladder sprints all together 75km.
Friday- recovery ride to the track, skills all together 20km.
Thanks for everything,
Taylia.
