Australia won five of six titles on offer in the time trials on the opening day of the 2019 Oceania Road Championships in Tasmania. Australia’s Kate Perry and Ben Dyball claimed maiden Oceania titles, having previously won five Oceania medals in the discipline between them. Under 23 titles went to Sarah Gigante (Australia) and Liam Magennis (Australia) while Francesca Sewell (Australia) and Finn-Fisher-Black (New Zealand) claimed the under 19 crowns.

Full Results | Event Website

The Championships continue on Saturday with the under 19 men’s road race and elite and under 23 women’s road race.

Elite Women
1 Kate PERRY (AUS)
2 Nicole FRAIN (AUS) +1:09
3 Jenny PETTENON (AUS) +2:15

With bronze and silver medals to her name Perry claimed what is the biggest result of her career as she stormed home to snare her maiden title.

“It is a pretty nice win. It is probably my biggest win so far,” said Perry. “I was pretty confident coming in to today that if I did everything right then hopefully, I would be able to take it on the day and I was very fortunate the legs were good.

“I have basically gone from bronze to silver to gold and I have put in a lot of work for this one and the preparation is definitely key so I was very fortunate I knew exactly what I was in for so it is a very nice feeling to be on the top step.”

Elite Men
1 Benjamin DYBALL (AUS)
2 Jason CHRISTIE (NZL) +24
3 Michael FREIBERG (AUS) +1:35

For Dyball the victory was a reward for consistency as he claimed his fourth Oceania time trial medal and his first gold. “I have been twice second and once third, so it is good to finally be on the top step.

“The wind was a bit different to yesterday [recon] with a headwind on the way back but today there was a little wind on the way back, but it seemed quicker.

Under 23 Women
1 Sarah GIGANTE (AUS)
2 Georgia CHRISTIE (NZL) +13
3 Jemma EASTWOOD (AUS) +30

2018 under 19 road race champion Sarah Gigante continued her successful year adding the under 23 Oceania title to her under 23 time trial and elite and under 23 road race national title beating former champion Georgia Christie to the gold medal.

“It is really special. I have never won the Oceania time trial title before, so it is cool.

“I have been targeting this race specifically since Nationals really. I turned my focus really from the Summer of Cycling to Oceania’s down here in Tasmania so it’s really cool to see the hard word pay off.

“It is good to have the Kiwi’s here I was unsure how I would go against them. I don’t think I have ever raced Georgia Christie and some of her teammates as well so really cool to see the Aussies are pretty good here.”

Under 23 Men
1 Liam MAGENNIS (AUS)
2 Alastair CHRISTIE-JOHNSTON (AUS) +1:36
3 Jordan LOUIS (AUS) +2:12

“It feels really good. It is good to back up my Australian TT title in January. It was a good day out,” Magennis explained having also won the national title earlier in the year.

“I will hopefully try and get up the road early and give myself a head start with the climbing and hopefully it is windy so it will split up a bit,” he added of his plan for the road race on Sunday.

Under 19 Women

Australian Champion Francesca Sewell continued a dream start to her first year in the under 19 category with a convincing win and her first Oceania title.

1 Francesca SEWELL (AUS)
2 Catelyn TURNER (AUS) +15
3 Henrietta CHRISTIE (NZL) +35

Under 19 Men

New Zealand swept the podium with under 19 individual pursuit world record holder Finn Fisher-Black storming home to continue his strong start to 2019.

1 Finn FISHER-BLACK (NZL)
2 Laurence PITHIE (NZL) +23
3 Alexander WHITE (NZL) +38