TRACK | Dual Madison gold & Morton sprint victory cap Oceania Champs

Cure & Manly celebrate | Photo - Dianne Manson

The Australian Team wrapped up the Oceania Champs in Invercargill on the weekend with five gold medals highlighting the team's results:

• Madison - Amy Cure & Alexandra Manly - Gold
• Madison - Sam Welsford & Kell O'Brien - Gold
• Points Race - Amy Cure - Gold
• Sprint - Steph Morton - Gold
• Sprint - Kaarle McCulloch - Bronze
• Individual Pursuit - Conor Leahy - Gold
• Individual Pursuit - Maeve Plouffe - Silver
• Points Race - Maeve Plouffe - Bronze

WATCH Session 8 

Stephanie Morton powered to gold in the women's sprint over hometown favourite Olivia Podmore. 

"Off the back of knee surgery backing up is pretty tough so I just wanted to go out there and get the set up right and then whatever happened at the end happened, so to get the win. I'm really happy."

Kaarle McCulloch, who rode a personal best to top qualifying in 10.759secs, won bronze.

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â–¡â–¡ Oceania Sprint Champion â–¡â–¡ @australiancyclingteam @scienceinsport @kask_cycling @santini_cycling @argon18bike @bontcycling â–¡ @diannemanson

A post shared by Stephanie Morton (@stephmorton28) on Oct 19, 2019 at 1:52pm PDT

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Finished up a successful campaign at the @oceaniacycling championships yesterday. Highlight was the â–¡ with my girl @stephmorton28 in the TS which was my 20th Oceania title and a sneaky unexpected PB in the F200! Great battle as always with the New Zealanders and great to see a lot of depth coming through, nice work to all the girls! Pictured having a chat with @shaane.fulton â–¡ : @diannemanson @cyclingaustralia @nswinstituteofsport @argon18bike @santini_australia

A post shared by Kaarle McCulloch (@kaarlemcculloch) on Oct 19, 2019 at 11:27am PDT

In the Madisons, Amy Cure and Alexandra Manly dominated the elite women's 30km final ahead of the New Zealand combination of Michaela Drummond and Jessie Hodges.

Kelland O'Brien and Sam Welsford won gold in the men's 40km event, sealing the win after Welsford took victory in the double points final lap.

Amy Cure made it three gold for the Championships after claiming points race gold to add to her scratch race victory earlier in the week.

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@oceaniacycling IP title last night #thatsarack • □ @tomsee_ • @australiancyclingteam • #trackcycling #fixedgear #sendit

A post shared by Conor Leahy (@_conor_leahy_) on Oct 18, 2019 at 6:37pm PDT

Top qualifier Conor Leahy took out the elite men's 4000m individual pursuit, with the Western Australian fending off New Zealand's former world champion Jordan Kerby in the final.

"I always tend to back up pretty hard, so I had good confidence that I could put it to Kerbs - he's a renowned IP, so I knew I had a good challenge ahead of me, but I just went out hard and tried to stick to as good a time as possible."

Maeve Plouffe's comeback following wrist surgery continued with silver in the elite women's 3000m individual pursuit and bronze in the points race.

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In last year’s Oceania IP, I rode a 3:39. This year, after breaking my wrist in late July and racing a TP, omnium and scratch race beforehand, I rode 8 seconds faster in a 3:31. This progress is beyond me and I honestly believe it’s just the beginning! Moral of the story: things don’t always go to plan, but it’s your mindset which determines how you pick yourself back up in adversity. Stay patient and keep grinding! ✨ Thank you to everyone who has been in my corner this week, and since my accident. I owe this one to you! ?? Photos: Eugene Bonthuys

A post shared by MAEVE PLOUFFE (@maeveplouffe) on Oct 19, 2019 at 2:39am PDT

MORE

• Event: Oceania Track Championships
• Date: 16 -19 October 2019
• Location: SIT Zero Fees Velodrome Surrey Road Invercargill
• Live Stream: Watch all sessions live via Cycling Southland
• Results: Results by event
• Program: Complete 2020 event programme​

Photos

Dianne Manson.