2016 world championship bronze medallist Katrin Garfoot has claimed ORICA-SCOTT’s third elite gold medal of the Australian Championships with a convincing victory in her pet event, the time trial, in Buninyong today.
Garfoot hit the 14km checkpoint having already gained almost 40seconds advantage on her nearest opponent Shara Gillow. By the conclusion of the 29.3km up and back course, she had extended her margin to almost two minutes.
The 35-year-old’s winning time was 43:05 with an average speed of 40.8km/h. Gillow (45:00) held on for second, with Kate Perry (46:19) rounding out the podium.
“The pressure was on,” Garfoot said. “Even though I try not to let it get to me, I was nervous and wondering if I could do it again because you never know where the others are at, at this stage of the year.”
“Obviously there is always something to improve but at this stage I wouldn’t know what because it just came all together.
“I pushed harder than I wanted to on the way out and I knew I would pay for that on the way back. But as soon as I saw Shara and knew I would catch her, I settled down a bit, reeled her in and I knew that mentally that would give me an advantage.”
In a double victory for ORICA-SCOTT, teammate Alex Manly also claimed the under 23 time trial championship, finishing in a time of 48:39 ahead of Jaime Gunning (48:44) and Ella Scanlan-Bloor (48:54).
Manly, who has identified the time trial event as a future target, was unsure of her form following a track racing focus, but was pleasantly surprised with the result.
“I’m really happy with the race,” Manly said. “Going into it I wasn’t sure how I was going on the road and was feeling unsure of what I’d got myself into, but I’m really happy it worked out in the end.”
“Going out I had a handle on it (with the tail wind) and I wasn’t thinking too much about it, just one hill at a time. Coming back (with the head wind) it really hurt and I think I struggled a bit mentally there.”
The Australian Championships continue with the final event, the road race on Sunday.
Durbridge claims the men’s silver medal at Australian time trial championships
Former Australia road and time trial champion Luke Durbridge has claimed the silver medal at the Australian time trial championship in Buninyong.
Durbridge reached the intermediate checkpoint as the fastest rider, taking advantage of the tail wind to hold a three second advantage as he turned for the tougher return journey.
But at the end of the 40km course, it was BMC Racing’s Rohan Dennis who prevailed, finishing in a time of 50:59, 58seconds ahead of Durbridge.
“I actually surprised myself,” the West Australian said. “Rohan is still head and shoulders above me at the moment but it’s been a while since I have been up there so hopefully I can keep closing that gap and get closer to Rohan.”
