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2022 Oceania Championships Guide
Mar 17, 2022
The first-ever combined Oceania Cycling Championships will take place in Brisbane in 2022 and will incorporate eight cycling disciplines of BMX Racing, BMX Freestyle, Mountain Bike Cross Country (XCO), Mountain Bike Downhill, Para-cycling (Road and Track), Road (Time Trial and Road Race) and Track.
The Downhill Championships will kickstart the action on March 19 at Kooralbyn, with the XCO Championships to be held on March 27 at Nerang National Park on the Gold Coast.
A massive four days of track cycling follows from April 2-5 with the Oceania Track Championships at the state-of-the-art Anna Meares Velodrome.
The action moves into April for the Championships' final weekend, with the Sleeman Sports Complex to host the BMX Racing Championships on April 8, followed by the BMX Freestyle Championships in Beenleigh on April 10.
The blockbuster weekend will also feature the Oceania Individual Time Trial Championships on April 9 and the Oceania Road Race Championships on April 10 as part of the Tour de Brisbane, an annual AusCycling National Road Series race.
Throughout the 24-day festival of cycling, a handful of challenge events for a wide range of age groups will also be contested across the disciplines of road, downhill and BMX Racing.
For more information on entries, click here.
Mountain Bike – Downhill
The Black Snake downhill track will host the UCI Oceania Cycling Confederation Continental Downhill Championships at Kooralbyn Mountain Bike Park, Queensland, 19-20 March.
Newly minted Elite Women's National Champion Ellie Smith (NSW) will line up alongside the last Oceania Downhill Champion from 2020 in Sian A'Hern (ACT), while Roly Kyme (WA), who finished 10th at the recent 2022 AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships, leads the charge in the elite men.
Key Information
When
- Friday, March 18 – Practice
- Saturday, March 19 – Official practice and qualifying
- Sunday, March 20 – Oceania Championships
Where – Kooralbyn Valley Mountain Bike Park
Mountain Bike – XCO
Australia's heavyweight cross-country riders will descend on Nerang National Park, Gold Coast for the UCI Oceania Cycling Confederation Continental XCO Championships 26-27 March.
Rebecca McConnell (ACT), currently rated the number two XCO female rider in the world, will once again be favourite to retain the Elite Women's title she claimed in 2020, while the Elite Men's field will be hotly contested with Anton Cooper (NZ) flying the flag for the Kiwis.
Key Information
When
- Saturday, March 26 – Official practice
- Sunday, March 27 – Oceania Championships
Where – Nerang National Park, Gold Coast
Track
The Oceania Track Championships return after a two-year absence, with the last edition held in Invercargill, New Zealand, in 2019.
The 2022 edition provides a familiar venue for another round of the exciting trans-Tasman rivalry, with the Australians and New Zealanders locking horns at the venue at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Australia's premier track cyclists will be in the thick of racing form, with the four-day Championships to begin just two days after the 2022 AusCycling Track National Championships conclude.
Australian Cycling Team Olympians Matthew Glaetzer, Matthew Richardson, Nathan Hart and Maeve Plouffe will all make the trek to Queensland for a busy month of action at Anna Meares Velodrome.
Australian-born Kiwi and Brisbane hometown hero Jordan Kerby is slated to form part of a strong New Zealand squad, which also includes Olympic silver medallist Ellesse Andrews, Aaron Gate, Bryony Botha and Sam Webster.
Key Information
When
- Saturday, April 2 – Tuesday, April 5
Where – Anna Meares Velodrome, Chandler
Live stream – AusCycling YouTube
BMX Racing
The 2022 Oceania BMX Racing Championships will be the first Trans-Tasman battle in three years, with the last Championships in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, in 2019. Again, it was the Sakakibaras who took out the elite men's and women's titles with Kai grabbing his second Oceania title and Saya grabbing her first title in 2019.
The 2022 Oceania Championships will be contested at the Olympic-standard BMX track at the Sleeman Sports Complex. The state-of-the-art track, which includes both a 5-metre and 8-metre hill, was recently reconfigured to replicate the Tokyo BMX track ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games.
Brisbane will host two days of BMX action with the 2022 Oceania BMX Racing Challenge running simultaneously on Friday, followed by AusCycling BMX National Round 3 on the Saturday. These events will also see the return of the Mighty 11s Test Team and Mighty 11s Memorial Class which features on both Friday and Saturday.
A rider list will be made available closer to the competition date
Key Information
When
- Friday, April 8
Where – Sleeman Sports Complex, Chandler
Live stream - More details to come
BMX Freestyle
The 2022 Oceania BMX Freestyle Championships will be the first major BMX Freestyle event since Logan Martin OAM OLY claimed the first-ever men's BMX Freestyle gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. After winning the previous Championships in Melbourne in 2019, Martin, the reigning Oceania champion, will be looking to start his year on the right foot at the Doug Larsen Park, Beenleigh, the skate park where he learnt his trade.
Martin played a significant role in 2016 in the redesigning of the park's transformation and is one of the top facilities in the country for BMX Freestyle.
Joining Martin on the men's ledger will be number 6 in the world Josh Matthews and number 10 in the world Jaie Toohey.
Key Information
When
- Sunday, April 10
Where – Doug Larsen Park, Beenleigh
Road
The Oceania Road Race and Road Time Trial Championships roll into south-east Queensland from April 9-10 after last being held in Tasmania, Australia, in 2019.
Saturday's 2022 Oceania Time Trial Championships travel west to Ipswich, starting and finishing in the rural town of Rosewood. Both the men (40km) and women (30km) will tackle the rolling terrain of Mt Walker in the fight for the Oceania crowns.
The Oceania Road Race Championships will be run in conjunction with the Tour de Brisbane, an annual AusCycling National Road Series one-day race. The course features an iconic city-based layout, encompassing a fast and technical course centred around ascents of Brisbane's landmark climb – Mt Coot-tha. The elite men and under-23 men will race for 123.5km, including three ascents of Mt Coot-tha. The women's race distance is 89.1km, with two climbs of Mt Coot-tha.
Complete start lists will be made available closer to the event.
Key Information
When
- Saturday, April 9 – Individual Time Trial (Ipswich)
- Sunday, April 10 – Road Race (Brisbane)
Live stream – More details to come
- Written by
- AusCycling
- Disciplines
- BMX Racing, BMX Freestyle, Mountain Bike, Para-cycling, Road, Track