Kowalski Recruitment Canberra Junior & Women's Tour 2 - 4 July 2004

The Canberra Junior Tour held at Uriarah Homestead in the hills west of Canberra City was bigger and better than ever this year with over 300 male and female riders in total competing in Under 11s through to Under 19s / Opens.  Riders from Randwick Botany included Adriano Maradini (U13), Tamas Bykerk(U15), Tom Patton(U15), Luke Davidson(U15), Michael Murdoch (U19) , Brittany Orr(U19W) and Robbie Cater(U19).  Riders came from all over Australia, and New Zealand  was represented as well.

A fantastic result for Randwick Botany and FRF Couriers in the Elite Women with U19 rider Brittany Orr (pictured left) placing 7th overall on GC.  This meant that FRF had 4 riders in the top 12 being  Laura Bortolozzi 4th GC, Brittany Orr 7th GC,  Christine Riakos 9th GC and Natasha Harrigan 12th GC.  Congratulations girls.  Robert Cater also riding for Randwick Botany/FRF Couriers had a great meet finishing 6th on GC and having a fantastic ride in the second road race, placing third.

In the under 15 men we had three competitors.  Luke Davison, Tom Paton and Tamas Bykerk (pictured from left to right above). The GC results - Luke Davison 4th, Tom Paton 5th, Tamas Bykerk 10th - a very pleasing result considering the calibre of the field. 

In the Under 15 Mens there were around 30 competitors who fought it out over 4 events - 2 x 24 km road races, a criterium 15minutes + 2 laps and a time trial of 8km.  In near perfect conditions (but a little on the cool side for a coastal dweller) the group had a strong ride in the first road race punctuated by some challenging uphills and a KOM to keep it interesting.  The afternoon was more interesting for the spectators as the Criterium was run on a 500m circuit in the Australian Defence Organisation's carpark (now that's what I call a carpark!), with lots of photo opportunities and a few tight corners.

Luke set the pace early with Tamas and Tom following through later, doing some hard work on the front.  Sunday's road race started behind the Under 17 women and they soon caught up with them, which caused an issue for the commissaires, who had to stop the groups to separate them.  There was more confusion later when the group passed the lead car and the race was called "no race" due to a race rule breach.  In the afternoon the time trial was held in breezy conditions which made for some very fast riding in one direction and some tough riding in the other.

In the U13 Men, Randwick Botany's Adriano Maradini (pictured above right) did us proud with a fabulous 3rd place in the Individual Time Trial and a 6th overall on GC.