The Oceania season came to a close yesterday with the Continental Championships over the Super Sprint distance. The competition had a similar format to the Lievin Indoor World Cup, albeit in an outdoor form. To start things off, the athletes took on a 150m pool swim (50m) before progressing to a 4km bike on a criterium circuit. A 1km run on the track then rounded off the competition.
With Dylan McCullough, Matthew Hauser, Jaz Hedgeland and Ellie Hoitink not starting, Oceania was was guaranteed a new set of continental champions over the third and final championship of the season.
Men’s race
Sixteen men lined up to take on the final after the previous rounds had whittled down the field. Getting out to a fast start was Benjamin Airey. The bronze medallist at the Oceania Junior Championships took out the swim in 1:36 and carried a 3 second lead into T1. The two Schofields, Jayden and Luke, were the next out (1:39) alongside Lachlan Jones.
The Schofields had the best T1 and jumped into the lead although Airey and Jones quickly regrouped and made it onto their wheels. The lead group grew as new faces joined, such as Lleyton Walls, Brayden Mercer and the 2022 World Junior Championships silver medallist, Toby Powers. Over such a short bike segment, every second counted and a furious pace was set. Moreover, across the bike, the field split virtually in half but there was not a fatal difference between the packs.
Gus Marfell took the quickest split in 6:49 while Jones was the fastest cyclist of the top swimmers in 6:52.
Jones and Airey had fast second transitions, as did the Schofields. Once onto the track, though, Jayden Schofield and Luke Schofield pulled away. Their splits of 3:15 splits were best of the field and only Mercer could hang with them.
The race came down to a sprint finish and it was touch and go right until the line. Jayden was awarded the victory although both men ended with total times of 12:47 after logging identical swim, bike and run splits. Mercer then took the bronze medal.
Women’s race
Emma Jeffcoat was the fastest of the sixteen women’s finalists in the water. She led out in 1:48 – a time that would not have looked out of place in the men’s final – while Eva Goodisson was a second behind. After swift transitions, Jeffcoat and Goodisson held their lead at the front.
Charlotte McShane likewise had a fast T1. Her time of 35 seconds was the best of the field and she managed to ride up to the leaders with a field-leading 7:29 bike split.
Once again, there was not an awful lot to separate the field behind although the work of the leaders ensured constant pressure was applied to the chasers. By the time they arrived in T2, the front pack of three led a chase group containing Sian Munks, Kira Hedgeland and Emma Olson-Keating by a little over 10 seconds.
The flying speed told on Goodisson during the run which left Jeffcoat and McShane to fight for the win. As had been the case in the men’s race, it came down to a sprint finish and McShane was able to hold off Jeffcoat to take the win. Munks then took the bronze medal with a rapid run. Separately, the top run split went to the Oceania Junior champion, Aspen Anderson. She ran 3:54.
View the full results here.
