The Cycling Australia National Hand-cycling Series made its way to Murwillumbah and the Gold Coast for the second round of the series last weekend.

Athletes travelled from New Zealand, Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland for the competition, and both the Murwillumbah Cycle Club and Goldstars Cycle Club hosted the days of racing. There were 15 hand cyclists and a trike competing over the two days, with athletes having a varying degree of disability.

The first race was a Time Trial held on Saturday 23 February with the race conducted using a 13 kilometre course along Boyds Lane and Dulguigan Road, Murwillumbah.

Michael Taylor, in the H2 category, from Victoria won the time trial and travelled the course in 21 minutes and 51 seconds at an average speed of 35.7 kilometres per hour. The next competitor was Brendon Stratten from New Zealand in the H3 category in a time of 22 minutes and 7 seconds.

The athletes then travelled to Pimpama on Sunday 24 February where they competed in a Road Race. The riders raced 50 kilometres with Brendon Stratten from New Zealand being the first rider across the line travelling the distance in 1 hour 34 minutes and 11 seconds, at an average speed of 31.85 km/h. Alex Welsh, from Victoria, was the next to cross the line 9 seconds behind.

The racing over the weekend provided new series leaders in two categories. The T2 (Trike) category is now being led by Jarrad Langmead from New South Wales having taken over from Carol Cooke from Victoria who was unable to travel for the racing because of prior commitments. Carol was busy organising a charity swim in aid of Cerebral Palsy. The H3 category is now headed by Brendon Stratten who takes the lead from Grant Allen from South Australia. The leader jersey in the H2 division stays with Alex Welsh.

The next round of the series is being held in Western Australia in March, before the riders travel to Echuca Victoria for the final round.

Prior to competition all athletes are evaluated by specialists in a variety of fields using guidelines developed by the International Cycling Union (UCI). The purpose of the 'classification' structure is to minimise the impact of impairment on the outcome of competition, so that the athlete's success in competition relies on training, physical fitness and personal athletic talent. It also has the role of determining the athlete's ability to compete and to group athletes for competition.

Cycling Australia