Category: Sophie Edwards

PPA | Podium Potential Academy back on track at Virtual Track Nats

1/10/2020

Photo Tom Clarke @tomsee_

After six months without racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation and postponement of events across Australia and the world, Cycling Australia’s ‘Virtual Track National Challenge’ will provide Australia’s best cyclists with a chance to get back on track.

Across October 2-3-4, Sydney’s Dunc Gray Velodrome, the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane, Adelaide Superdrome, Western Australia’s SpeedDome plus the Darwin and Alice Springs Velodrome will host the Challenge.

The inaugural Challenge will see riders in the J15, J17, J19, Para or Elite categories contest the Flying 200M, Individual Pursuit, Time Trial Team Sprint and Team Pursuit at their primary Indoor Velodrome in their home state or territory. Official Start Lists & Results Page

In Adelaide, Australian Cycling Team Podium Potential Academy (PPA) athletes will line up across all events.

Launched in November 2018, the PPA - supported and partly funded by Commonwealth Games Australia - focuses on the long term development of athletes orientated around success at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and through to the 2024 Olympic Games and beyond.

The sprint events will feature 2020 World Championship bronze medallist Tom Cornish, plus Kristina Clonan who continues her transition from the endurance to the sprinting ranks.

“The virtual nationals is an opportunity to come together and compete in what has been probably one of the toughest years, both racing but also mentally,” said Clonan, 22. The 2018 and 2019 Madison national champion is now developing her track cycling craft as a sprinter in the Podium Potential Academy.

“COVID lockdowns and the uncertainty has given me an opportunity to find my feet in the sprint by having a huge block on home soil. But training amongst so much uncertainty makes it difficult to formulate goals, so virtual nationals has been the goal so I’m excited to lay down some times and see where I’m at.”

The event also provides a chance for cyclists to reconnect with friends and their local cycling club.

“I’m excited to reunite with everyone after such a tough year and the inability to see my interstate friends and competitors,” added Clonan. “Virtual nationals, in a way, gives the nation a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel, and an (almost) return to normality.

“I’m excited to see how Australia can come together, and bring the spirit of racing hard and supporting one another, even if we aren’t actually together.”

Clonan - Photo Tom Clarke @tomsee_

For Cornish, it will be his first team sprint since claiming a surprise bronze (with Nathan Hart and Matthew Richardson) while on debut at the 2020 Track World Championships in March.

“It’s been so long since we have raced, we’re using this to get a bit of a gauge of how we are tracking through training into December this year for nationals,” said Cornish, 20, the 2018 junior time trial world champion.

“We’re all very keen to get out there and record some times.”

In the endurance events, Sophie Edwards will get back to racing via the team pursuit where she will line up with a South Australian outfit.

“I’m really looking forward to racing a TP and seeing where I’m at after not having the season that I expected,” said Edwards, 20, a Junior Track World Championship medallist in 2018 who also raced both the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race with Team UniSA-Australia earlier in 2020.

“It’s also been good to train with the SASI team again and pass on some of the knowledge I’ve learnt through my time at CA.

“But you can train hard, and do as much testing as you want, but it’s never truly like lining up at a race and giving it your all.

Cornish - Photo Cycling Australia

Results will be published live online at each velodrome where the state and territory winners will be determined and announced. A nationalised live timing app will centralise the results as they happen throughout the country.

The times recorded at each velodrome across Australia will be standardised using an approach developed by staff at the Australian Cycling Team. Staff from the Team have evaluated each of the velodromes based on past performances. They will take into account the barometric pressure and temperatures in each velodrome in the calculation of results.

The event will also provide a key preparation opportunity for teams and riders as they build towards the 2020 Track National Championships in Brisbane from 16-20 December.

Tasmania’s Silverdome and Melbourne’s DISC Velodrome will host events later in the month.

#VirtualTrackNats

Schedule

Western Australia: SpeedDome; October 2-3
New South Wales & ACT: Dunc Gray Velodrome; October 3-4
Queensland: Anna Meares Velodrome; October 3-4
South Australia: Superdrome; October 3-4
Northern Territory: Darwin and Alice Springs Velodromes; October 3
Tasmania: Silverdome; October 11
Victoria: DISC; Date TBC (postponed due to COVID restrictions)

Start Lists & Results

Visit the official Start Lists & Results Page

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PP ACADEMY | Sophie Edwards #TeamUniSA Tour Down Under blog

29/1/2020

The right pathway: Rising star Sophie Edwards has a lot to smile about.

For each Summer of Cycling, Cycling Australia prepares endurance development racing teams for the Santos Tour Down Under, Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR) including Race Torquay, and the Herald Sun Tour.

The development opportunity for athletes within Australia's High Performance Network and National Road Series teams to contest UCI events within Australia.

One of the youngest to line up at the 2020 Santos Tour Down Under was Adelaide teenager Sophie Edwards who switched the green and gold of the Australian Cycling Team’s Podium Potential Academy^ to take her place on the Team UniSA-Australia outfit.

A Junior Track World Championship medallist in 2018, Edwards joined the Academy in the same year, with a blend of track and road in 2019 resulting in two elite World Cup appearances in Hong Kong and Glasgow, while also taking part in a winter road racing program in Belgium.

Sophie penned her thoughts on her week at the Santos Tour Down Under for us below.

On the road: Edwards powers during a stage of the 2020 Santos Tour Down Under

Last week I was grateful to be given the opportunity to swap out the track bike and take part in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under. It has been a dream of mine to race the TDU, as I’ve not only watched it eagerly every year as a child in my hometown, but I also rode the family ride when I was seven, assisted at presentations and cleaned bikes in a valet service.

The Santos Women’s Tour consisted of three hilly stages, all well over 100km with upwards of 1500m climbing. These challenging stages were followed by a technical street-circuit criterium in the heart of Adelaide, which preceded the men’s Schwalbe Classic.

It all started in Hahndorf, a 115km stage with close to 1500m of climbing. The streets were decorated and there was a much larger crowd than I expected! It was a tough race, with the strong World Tour teams setting the tempo high up the climbs.

It was awesome to see a daring attack by Australian Brodie Chapman almost pay off before she was caught in a super technical finishing circuit with the sprint won by another Australian, Chloe Hosking. It was a massive learning experience for me as I couldn’t just try and finish, I had to constantly be aware of where my team was and assist our GC rider as much as I could.

On the track: Edwards Sophie on the front of the team pursuit quartet at the Glasgow UCI Track World Cup in 2019.

Stage 2 and 3 passed through many of the bushfire affected towns, in particular, Woodside and Charleston. I could see the emotion it provoked in all of the riders, however despite the hardship, many locals lined the roads and cheered.

My highlight of the tour was the finish of stage 3 in Stirling. It was tough going up the long Aldgate Valley road climb three times, but as we went up the final steep pinch into Stirling we were greeted by crowds, similar in size to what the men will have on Wednesday. Thank you to all of my family and friends who came to cheer me on, I heard all of you!

Thank you to the organisers for the WTDU who designed such opportunistic, exciting courses and ran the event so smoothly. Also, a massive thanks to all of the sponsors of the women’s race, which stepped it up another level and allowed all of the stages to be live-streamed for the first time!

Lastly, I am incredibly grateful to the team at Cycling Australia and the University of SA who have generously supported the ‘up and coming’ Australian national women’s team for the last three editions of the race.

Watch out – we’ll be back for Cadel’s Great Ocean Road Race!

Photos by Hikari Media / University of South Australia / Guy Swarbrick

^ About the Podium Potential Academy - Launched in November 2018 with an inaugural class of thirteen athletes across both endurance and sprint disciplines, the PPA programme, which is supported and partly funded by Commonwealth Games Australia, focuses on the long term development of athletes orientated around success at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and through to the 2024 Olympic Games and beyond

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