No fewer than 26 new national champions have been crowned in Wagga Wagga on the opening day of the 2025 AusCycling Junior & Masters Road National Championships.
Queensland and New South Wales shared the spoils in the junior categories as 308 riders in total pitted themselves against the clock in the individual time trial.
Warm, sunny skies greeted the competitors at the out-and-back course at Wantabadgery: 10km for the youngest athletes, 15km for everyone else.
Jett Stokes in full focus during his U15 men's race.
Apart from the idyllic weather, Mother Nature didn't exactly roll out the red carpet: the talk among riders was that a hostile magpie had set up his home along the course. Indeed, there were reports that several unfortunate competitors crashed today while attempting to evade the bird's swooping attacks.
Nevertheless, Sydneysiders Jett Stokes (Randwick CC) and Leif Ingwersen (Dulwich Hill BC), both riding in NSW colours, prevailed to take the under-15 and under-17 men's titles respectively.
Siena Goulding was the fastest of the U15 women.
Their maroon rivals across the border swept the junior women's categories, thanks to wins by Siena Goulding (Ipswich CC) and Ava Robbins (Balmoral CC) (pictured above).
In the masters categories, the local club has plenty to celebrate as Jared Thorwesten (Wagga Wagga CC) triumphed in men's masters 1.
Matthew Sparnon averaged 49.4km/h, posting the fastest time of the day.
The fastest woman over the 15km course was Jenny Pettenon (Hawthorn CC), who averaged 42.8km/h to clock in with a time of 21:03.02. Matthew Sparnon (Norwood CC) was the fastest man of the day, posting 18:13.67 at an average of 49.4km/h.
Under-17 men's champion Leif Ingwersen said his victory was many years in the making.
"I've been to three Road Nationals before this. I've been chipping away; every year you dream of winning. This year, I put all the marbles I had on the table and I was pretty stoked to pull it off.
Leif Ingwersen on his way to the U17 men's crown.
"I repeated efforts in training. I visualised, I spent my time dedicated to knowing the course, knowing the pacing strategy. So, I got out there, it felt natural, I felt great out there on the bike. It was unreal."
Jenny Pettenon said she was pleased to post the day's fastest time.
"It was a great course and really beautiful weather today. It was quite windy on the way back so I knew I had to go solid on the way out, but try and conserve something for the headwind on the way back, which I sort of did − but still died on the way home.
Hawthorn's Jenny Pettenon setting the fastest time of any woman.
"The magpie was the key talking point by everyone. He seemed to be attacking someone else when I went past, so I was quite relieved about that!
"I was pretty pleased about the fastest time. I've always been, maybe, the second-fastest overall to one of the other ladies, so it was nice to get the fastest time. It's always a fun event, it's a nice little family, everyone's very friendly. It's good fun."
Racing continues tomorrow with the first of the road races, also starting and finishing at Wantabadgery.
National Champions - Individual Time Trial
🥇 JM15: Jett Stokes (NSW)
🥇 JW15: Siena Goulding (QLD)
🥇 JM17: Leif Ingwersen (NSW)
🥇 JW17: Ava Robbins (QLD)
🥇 WMAS1: Sarah Geleta (Manly Warringah CC)
🥇 WMAS2: Jodie Walker (Northern Cycling)
🥇 WMAS3: Aoife Reid (Carnegie Caufield CC)
🥇 WMAS4: Chantelle Orr (Southern Cross CC)
🥇 WMAS5: Jenny Pettenon (Hawthorn CC)
🥇 WMAS6: Anne Elliott (Darling Downs CC)
🥇 WMAS7: Anna Davis (Coburg CC)
🥇 WMAS8: Bev Anderson (Canberra Off Road Cyclists)
🥇 WMAS9: Margaret Noonan (Byron Bay CC)
🥇 WMAS10: Gaye Lynn (Sutherland Shire CC)
🥇 WMAS11: Elizabeth Randall (Blackburn CC)
🥇 MMAS1: Jared Thorwesten (Wagga Wagga CC)
🥇 MMAS2: Steve Flack (Carnegie Caufield CC)
🥇 MMAS3: Marc Williams (Canberra CC)
🥇 MMAS4: Matthew Sparnon (Norwood CC)
🥇 MMAS5: Chris Ling (Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club)
🥇 MMAS6: Ben Arnott (Manly Warringah CC)
🥇 MMAS7: Steven Knight (Peel District CC)
🥇 MMAS8: Alan Nelson (St Kilda CC)
🥇 MMAS9: Roger Cull (Sydney CC)
🥇 MMAS10: Malcolm Lynn (Sutherland Shire CC)
🥇 MMAS11: Robert Braszell (Ballarat / Sebastopol CC)
Photos: Con Chronis