Australians dominated the Oceania Road Championships in Brisbane, Queensland this week, taking three of the four elite titles and several other wins across age categories and para-cycling.
Held for the first time since 2024, the two-day Continental Championships crowned the best riders from across the Oceania region, mainly featuring riders from Australia and New Zealand but also participants from French Polynesia, Palau, Guam and other smaller nations.
The elite road races started and finished in Mount Crosby, both taking in laps of the 700-metre Kholo Road climb and making for punchy, selective races.
The women's elite road race on Friday came down to a two-up sprint between Australian riders, with Tully Schweitzer (Eneicat-Be Call) beating ProVelo Super League winner Sophia Sammons (Team Redcat) to the win. Still only 18, Schweitzer also claimed the U23 title.
It was also a two-rider battle in the men's race, with Australia's Carter Bettles (Roojai Insurance Winspace) just beating New Zealand's Luke Mudgway (Li Ning Star) to the title. This same pair went head to head at the Pune Grand Tour earlier this year, with Mudgway beating Bettles into second there. 12th-placed William Heffernan took the U23 title.
It's a first Continental title for both Schweitzer and Bettles, in races largely absent of WorldTour riders due to the timing in the season.
On Thursday, the time trial titles were decided on a much flatter course around Mount Walker, with New Zealand's Bronwyn Macgregor claiming her first title at 43 in the elite women's TT, beating Katelyn Nicholson by 12 seconds.
The men's TT was won by Conor Leahy, bettering his Team Brennan teammate Oliver Bleddyn by 21 seconds on the 18.3km course.
Australia also swept the titles in the junior TTs (Alistair Forsyth and Megan Moore) and U23 TTs (Thomas Waites and Sophia Sammons), as well as several titles in the paracycling categories, including double TT and road race titles for the decorated Darren Hicks.
Top 5s - elite women
Position |
Rider (Country) Team |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Bronwyn Macgregor (NZl) Superhelp-Evileye Team |
0:25:54 |
2 |
Katelyn Nicholson (Aus) Butterfields Ziptrak Racing |
0:00:12 |
3 |
Urszula Chrabaszcz (Aus) |
0:02:04 |
4 |
Kate Bonner (Aus) |
0:02:12 |
5 |
Susanna Pieterse (Aus) |
0:02:52 |
Position |
Rider (Country) Team |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Tully Schweitzer (Aus) Eneicat-BeCall |
3:32:33 |
2 |
Sophia Sammons (Aus) Toyota Valencia | SAV |
s.t. |
3 |
Katelyn Nicholson (Aus) Butterfields Ziptrak Racing |
0:02:34 |
4 |
Bronwyn Macgregor (NZl) Superhelp-Evileye Team |
0:02:35 |
5 |
Belinda Bailey (Aus) Cycling Development Foundation |
0:05:12 |
Top 5s - elite men
Position |
Rider (Country) Team |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Conor Leahy (Aus) Team Brennan |
0:21:23 |
2 |
Oliver Bleddyn (Aus) Team Brennan |
0:00:21 |
3 |
Alastair Christie-Johnston (Aus) Ccache X Bodywrap |
0:01:22 |
4 |
Augustus Max Campbell (Aus) Ccache X Bodywrap |
s.t. |
5 |
Josh Burnett (NZl) Burgos Burpellet BH |
0:01:26 |
Position |
Rider (Country) Team |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Carter Bettles (Aus) Roojai Insurance Winspace |
3:30:33 |
2 |
Luke Mudgway (NZl) Li Ning Star |
s.t. |
3 |
Alastair Christie-Johnston (Aus) Ccache X Bodywrap |
0:00:54 |
4 |
Fergus Browning (Aus) Terengganu Cycling Team |
s.t. |
5 |
Finlay Walsh (Aus) Ccache X Bodywrap |
0:00:56 |
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