CYCLING their way to state glory, riders from St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar Schools (SMS/BGS) led the field at the Victorian Schools Cycling Championships.
The championship finals, held in Bendigo from 10-12 October, were the last chance of the season for riders to impress in the Victorian school cycling season and SMS/BGS riders took to the pedals with aplomb in search of state titles. The schools had a very strong team as they had qualified large numbers through the zone finals that had been running over several months.
On Saturday the mountain-bike events were held in typical goldfield country, with lots of rolling hills and rocky gravel-like surface as the local club had mapped out a demanding track in Spring Gully Reserve. St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar ended the day with gold medals to Susannah Bates, Lachlan Clarke and Sienna Grove, silver to Erin Hanley and Olivia Weston and bronze to Elise Hutchinson.
In addition to these there were medals awarded for outstanding performance throughout the zones and state finals and Susannah, Lachlan, Sienna and Elsie all won this award in their respective age groups. The squad went on to take out the prestigious Champion School Award for mountain biking.
Sunday morning was warm and it just got hotter as the day went on. The track around the main shopping area of Bendigo was lightning fast and the talent level of riders was high. The St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar riders built on their work from the previous day to perform at their highest level imaginable. Five more gold medals were won by Susannah Bates, Saffron Button, Ethan and Jordan McDonell and Olivia Weston, silver went to Madeline Blackwood and bronze to Damien Freihofer, Mitchell Graham and Sienna Grove. Several riders beat opponents who had been clearly superior in the zone finals. The ride by Saffron Button was outstanding in tenacity – she was dropped off by the leading riders on two occasions but managed to fight her way back and then win in a sprint finish. Not surprisingly the squad easily took out the Champion School Award for road cycling as well.
SMS/BGS led the field in cycling and mountain biking winning eight state champions, fifteen medals and champion school in both disciplines against the best school riders in Victoria.
