LUKE PARKER TAKES GOLD AT THE NATIONAL TRACK TITLES

Luke Parker


National track titles

The lead up to the Australian track titles was an interesting one and it all started at the Victorian track champs.  I had been sick in the week leading up to the Vic champs and because of this I did not get the results that I wanted. This caused me to miss out on state team selection. Fortunately I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a 1 lap (250m) trial to select the first wheel position of the team sprint. The trial was between me and 2 other NTID riders. It was held at DISC under full race conditions including start gate and electronic timing.  I had the fastest time of the day and this allowed me to fly to Adelaide to be the starter for the Victorian Under 19 team sprint team.

When I arrived in Adelaide I was really excited. I flew up on Thursday and my race was on Saturday. The few days leading up to the team sprint consisted of casual road rides, a track session and a lot of resting up. Finally Saturday came around and the pressure was on. We arrived at the track and did our warm up which was 10 minutes on the rollers followed by 30 laps of the track on a small gear and then some 50 metre power jumps to get the legs going. We then went back into the pits and our mechanic Darryl Perkins (Shane's father) put our race gears on and the Mavic race wheels.  We then did a few more jumps and then got ready to race.

First we had qualifying to see if we would ride off for a medal. I was pumped and ready to go, maybe a little too ready though. As the timer counted down I did my usual routine but for some reason went too early. This caused my bike to get held in the gates and loose all the momentum of the start. I panicked for a second and then just went for it- I had to make up the time. I did my lap and then swung out of the way and left it for my team mates. We qualified first even with my bad start-I was relieved.  I have done hundreds of starts in training but when it counted I went a fraction early.  Still, we were riding off for gold.

Going into the competition we knew we had a strong team with Nathan Corrigan, Maddison Hammond and I.  In the final, I was determined not to make the same mistake as I did in qualifying.  I went up into the gates and prepared myself.  As the timer counted down I was focused on not going too early.  As the final beep sounded I threw out of the gates and went as hard as I could. (18.6 sec first lap)  I swung off and let Nathan and Maddison do their laps. As I was rolling around watching my team mates fly around the track I could see that we were ahead of our opponents, the SA team.  Maddison brought it home and stopped the clock in 46.85 seconds. We had won the gold and broken the Australian championship record.  We were also only 300th of a second off the World Under 19 record.  I was so happy when I saw that we had done it- we are all good mates and that makes it even better. We rolled around for a bit and then it was time for the presentations. Standing on the top podium as the National Anthem played felt so good.  I was only there for one race and we had won, so I achieved my goal.

The 2010 nationals were over and the training for next year has already started.  The plan now is to compete in a lot of the CCCC club races like Sandown and Glenvale, and hopefully some training rides with the Celtic Decor boys who I know through Dad.  Next year I'll be 2nd year Under 19 and my main focus will be the Kilo (1 kilometre time trial), the sprints and the Keirin. Hopefully next year I will be able to make the state team and have another good National Championships.  


Luke Parker