Three of Shepparton Cycling Club’s brightest talents have returned home after a successful campaign at the AusCycling Junior Track National Championships in Brisbane.
The competition was held at the Anna Meares Velodrome from March 13 to 17, with Shepparton’s Luca Lancaster, Isla Shaw and Billie Russell (Melbourne-Shepparton) pulling on the Big V — although their kit, in reality, was sadly missing Victoria’s usual signature V.
For Brett Lancaster (Luca’s father and president of Shepparton Cycling Club), the journey to Brisbane was a significant one for the family, given it was where Brett first earned a medal at a national championships.
“I myself rode as an under-17 at the velodrome right next to it (Anna Meares Velodrome) on an outdoor track and got a silver medal, which was my first ever national medal as an under-17,” he said.
“My son definitely followed in my footsteps and he did the job, it was a pretty special moment for me as well to get to see him perform and get that result 30 years later at the same place.
“I think the three Shepparton Cycling Club members all performed extremely well. We are really rapt with the outcome as we gained a lot of experience and there were some really, really amazing performances by the three athletes.”
Billie Russell came into the national championships as a bottom-ager in the under-17 category, but the teenage talent produced some incredible performances to claim gold in the under-17 girls Keirin, silver in the under-17 girls team pursuit and bronze in the under-17 girls points race.
Meanwhile, Lancaster said under-15 rider Shaw — recently recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus injuries — impressed at her first national championships, although unfortunately without a podium.
After missing out on the gold-silver medal ride in the individual pursuit, Luca stormed home in the bronze medal final to get on the podium.
The talented young rider also clocked a faster time than the gold and silver medallists, something that his father-mentor thinks will give him confidence in the future.
“He was happy; he walked away from the podium with a big smile on his face, and it was a pretty special moment for him,” Brett Lancaster said.
“The same thing happened in the team pursuit with the Victorian team. They qualified shocking, went out too slow, and qualified for the bronze ride-off and the same thing happened in the final.
“They went two seconds quicker than any other team and they missed out on the Australian record by 0.8, which would have been the fastest ever time on that track by an under-17 team.
“They didn’t get the gold, but they showed that they were the best team in Australia in the finals.”
The national titles are now complete, but that doesn’t mean the work, training and preparation stops. As Lancaster explains, there are no plans to rest.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“They are straight into road training and road season starts now and it goes through the winter, and the national titles are over in South Australia in October.
“No real rest at this age,“ he said with a laugh.
In the AusCycling Masters Track National Championships, Shepparton Cycling Club senior member Alison Lee dominated the field as she claimed gold in the points score, Keirin and sprint, while also winning silver in the time trial and scratch race events.