Albany riders raise the bar at State champs
Coach Stuart Passmore has praised the performances of Albany’s junior cyclists after they finished the 2017 State championships with 12 medals as a collective, including three new State titleholders.
CycleSport WA held their indiv-idual time trial and road race in Perth last weekend to complete the State Junior Championships after the criterium was contested back in March.
In a brilliant weekend of competition, Albany came away with another nine medals to go with the three they won at the criterium event, which is the best- ever overall performance, according to Passmore.
“Across all events, this is the best Albany has done,” he said.
“It’s massive for Albany as a regional area to have nine medals (at the weekend), given the strength of the metropolitan riders.
“We are batting well above our average. It’s just awesome because Albany has come from not having any juniors to be winning all these medals.”
On Sunday, Danica Wiggins won the under-17 girls’ State road race after prevailing in a sprint finish to take out the 74.9km event.
Youngster sister Emily Wiggins claimed victory in the under-15 girls’ 32.1km road race.
Danica was part of three riders who broke away from main group.
She defeated Dharlia Haines by 0.414 seconds in the sprint to the line, with the 15-year-old winning her first State title at under-17 level.
In her first season at under-15 level, Emily sprinted clear of the pack with 300m to go on her way to defeating fellow Albany rider Jessica Waldron.
It was a fourth State crown for the 12-year-old after previous success at under-13 level.
Older brother Craig Wiggins, who won a State criterium title earlier in the year, won a bronze medal when he was third across the line in the gruelling 107km under-19 men’s road race.
Emerging talent Riley Heslop also brought home a medal for Albany after crossing the line just 0.146 seconds off gold in the under-17 male road race.
Fellow local Daniel Lee unfortunately failed to finish after crashing during the event.
Lee, however, had won silver the previous day in the 15km under-17 male individual time trial.
Danica Wiggins was second in the under-17 girls’ ITT while Emily Wiggins and Jessica Waldron finished second and third respectively in the under-15 girls’ ITT.
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