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What to know about the Masters and Junior Road Nationals
Sep 9, 2022
A week of national championships will be the curtain-raiser to Australia’s biggest cycling event of the decade.
The 2022 AusCycling Masters and Junior Road National Championships finish in Wollongong just two days before the grand spectacle of the UCI Road World Championships take hold.
(The AusCycling Cyclo-cross National Championships are also happening there next week).
This year, junior and masters racers will meet at the same time, preparing the way for the world’s peloton to arrive.
Here’s what you should know about these national titles.
What’s at stake?
After two years of COVID disruption, this will be the first time in a long while that Australia’s masters and juniors have been able to contest a full road championships.
The last junior championships were held in 2019.
Although the masters competed in Ballarat in January, that was only after it was postponed and moved from the Sunshine Coast – and even then, the road races weren’t held.
This year, 66national titles will be contested over the four days.
The winners in each category will earn a gold medal and the right to wear the green-and-gold jersey of the Australian champion.
What are the events?
Tuesday: Time Trial
Competition begins on Tuesday with the individual time trials on Mount Keira, one of the key climbs of the World Championship course.
Mercifully, the time trial won’t force riders to climb up the mountain; instead, it’s an undulating course along the top of the Illawarra Escarpment.
Most categories will race two laps for a total of 16km, so we can expect the fastest riders to aim for a time just outside the 20-minute mark.
The under-15 riders will use a shorter lap (12km) while some para-cyclists will tackle one full lap (8km).
For the course map and profile, view the MapMyRide route.
Wednesday: Criterium
On Wednesday, the junior and masters racers will enjoy the smooth, fresh asphalt of the brand-new Illawarra Criterium Track.
The 950-metre circuit has challenging turns at both ends, so positioning and bike handling will be important. There’s a long, wide finishing straight ready to host many a sprint finish.
The duration of each race will vary from 20 minutes (for the under-15s) up to 35 minutes (for some masters fields).
Thursday & Friday: Road Race
The last two days of competition will see the road races contested in the semi-rural suburb of Marshall Mount, on the southern edge of Wollongong.
Riders will breeze past berry farms and horse ranches on this out-and-back course that turns around outside a disused coal mine, a reminder of Wollongong’s industrial history.
The juniors will complete their championships on Thursday, along with some masters categories.
Friday will see the rest of the Masters riders finish off their big week of racing, with race distances up to 88km (five laps).
To see the road race course, view the route on MapMyRide.
Who's riding?
The championships are contested in age groups for under-15s, under-17s, and masters, who are aged 30 and above.
Masters categories are divided into five-year increments: 30-34 years (Masters 1), 35-39 years (Masters 2), and so on.
A total of 595 men and women are listed to compete across the weekend.
Reigning masters champions like Bree Playel (Manly Warringah CC), Andrew Friebe (University of Queensland CC), Julian Paynter (Carnegie Caulfield CC), Benjamin Treble (Randwick Botany Cycling Club), Rod Price (Newcastle Hunter CC) and Illawarra local Kevin Goodman will look to defend their titles.
Also in the mix will be active National Road Series rider Benjamin Hill (Canberra CC), masters hour record holder Anna Davis (Coburg CC), and 1993 elite road champion and Commonwealth Games representative Steven Drake (St Kilda CC).
Alyssa Polites (left) competed the last time the junior national championships were held. (Photo: Kevin Anderson)
While masters riders represent their clubs or themselves, most of the junior field will be divided into state teams, which allow these young riders to experience (for most) interstate travel and competition in a team environment. Representatives from every state and territory (except, at this time, NT) will be in attendance.
Last time the junior championships were run, competitors included Alyssa Polites (who will race professionally next year) and Dylan George (who’ll represent Australia as an under-23 at the World Championships) – so it’s a crucial event for developing the next generation of talent.
While the start lists are being finalised, you can view a provisional list of entrants.
Where can I find results and updates?
You can follow live results of the racing at AusCycling’s results page.
For daily updates, follow us on social media:
For more event information, including the technical guide, visit the event webpage.
Photos: Con Chronis, Niels Ulrik Juel / Veloshotz, and Kevin Anderson
- Written by
- Ryan Miu
- Disciplines
- Road