Australia dominated the opening day of the 2017 Oceania Road Championships, winning all six time trials. Sean Lake successfully defended the elite men’s title, while Lucy Kennedy took out the elite women’s race in Canberra, Thursday March 9.

Australia’s Sean Lake stormed to gold in the elite men’s time trial to claim back-to-back titles in a dominant performance winning by nearly a minute. The former rower stopped the clock in 54mins 32.7secs for the 41-kilometre course. Silver went to Ben Dyball (Australia- 55:25.4) with New Zealand’s Hamish Bond (55:32.1) completing the podium.

Lucy Kennedy (Australia) time trialed her way to gold in a close battle, with the podium positions in the elite women’s race separated by just 17 seconds. 28-year-old Kennedy covered the 25-kilometre course in 40 minutes 4.2 seconds, to edge out Rebecca Mackey (Australia-40:15.1) with Lisen Hockings (40:20.9) completing an Australian 1-2-3.

“It means a lot. This is my first title and it feels like a nice reward for a lot of hard work,” said an elated Kennedy.

“Fourth place is hard to take, being so close to a podium. I was certainly hoping to make the podium this year and to take the win is extra special,” she added reflecting on her fourth place finish in 2016.

“It was a really hard race! The first half was much easier with a lot of downhill, but with such a tough return judging your pace is difficult.

“Conditions were great and a hilly time trial course suits me well so I took advantage of the climbs which I’m sure is where I made up time.”

A close battle for the under 23 women’s title saw Jaime Gunning (Australia) snatch gold in 41mins 6.3secs, just 1.4 seconds ahead of Mikayla Harvey (New Zealand-41:07.7) who settled for silver. Madeline Park gave New Zealand two riders on the podium as she took bronze in 41mins 45.1secs.

Liam Magennis (Australia) produced a stunning ride to win the under 23 men’s crown in 42mins 57.7secs for the 33 kilometre course. 19-year-old Magennis improved on his fourth place finish last year in a hotly contested category. Jason Lea (43:26.3) and Cyrus Monk (43:39.4) rounded out the podium.

In the under 19 women’s time trial Australia’s Maeve Moroney-Plouffe stormed to gold covering the 14 kilometre route in 21mins 44.5secs, having claimed four medals at the Australian Track Championships last weekend. Silver went to Libby Arbuckle (New Zealand- 21:55.4), 11 seconds behind with Madeleine Fasnacht (Australia-21:58.0) completing the podium a further three seconds back.

Sebastian Berwick (Australia) claimed the under 19 men’s title stopping the clock in 36mins and 14.7secs at the end of 25 kilometre race to claim gold. Thomas Jones picked up silver (36:53.2) with Mitchell Wright bronze (37:09.2) in another sweep of the podium for Australia.

Friday marks the start of the road races with the under 19 women competing over an 80-kilometre race, which will see the rising stars tackle two laps of a testing 40 kilometre circuit starting at 9:30AM. A combined under 23 and elite race will cover three laps of the same circuit starting at 1PM.

2017 Oceania Road Time Trial Medallists

Elite Men
Gold – Sean LAKE (AUS)
Silver – Ben DYBALL (AUS)
Bronze – Hamish BOND (NZL)

Elite Women
Gold – Lucy KENNEDY (AUS)
Silver – Rebecca MACKEY (AUS)
Bronze – Lisen HOCKINGS (AUS)

Under 23 Men
Gold – Liam MAGENNIS (AUS)
Silver – Jason LEA (AUS)
Bronze – Cyrus MONK (AUS)

Under 23 Women
Gold – Jaime GUNNING (AUS)
Silver – Mikayla HARVEY (NZL)
Bronze – Madeleine PARK (NZL)

Under 19 Men
Gold – Sebastian BERWICK (AUS)
Silver – Thomas JONES (AUS)
Bronze – Mitchell WRIGHT (AUS)

Under 19 Women
Gold – Maeve MORONEY-PLOUFFE (AUS)
Silver – Libby ARBUCKLE (NZL)
Bronze – Madeleine FASNACHT (AUS)

Photos: Adrian Marshall