In a fierce tussle between Australia's Olympic team and rising Podium Potential Academy stars, Sutherland Shire Olympian Ashlee Ankudinoff and teammate Alexandra Manly claimed the honours in the 2021 AusCycling Madison National Championships held at the Adelaide Super-Drome on Saturday 27 February.
The Madison is one of only six track cycling disciplines on the Tokyo Olympic Games program, with the women's event set to make its Olympic debut.
The event features two-riders teams looking to secure points in intermediate sprints held throughout the race, including exciting changeovers between the pairings completed by a hand-sling.
The Australian Cycling Team pairings set the early tone in the 120-lap race, with Manly-Ankudinoff, Georgia Baker-Annette Edmondson, and Maeve Plouffe-Alexandra Martin-Wallace, dominating the earlier sprints.
Nothing separated Manly-Ankudinoff and Baker-Edmondson at the midway point of the race. The two teams deadlocked on 20 points before Manly-Ankudinoff made their intentions clear with a run of five straight sprint wins.
Ashlee Ankudinoff, a member of the strong St George Cycling Club, said they knew that coming into the race, they just had to be consistent and be present in all the sprints and that was how they were going to win it.
"We made sure in the last 50 laps to put each other in strong positions so we could make the most of the opportunities to get those 5 points," Ankudinoff said
Alexandra Manly said It was nice to pair up with Ash because, in the past, she's beaten her for the title.
"It was nice to be able to do it together. By the time we came to the final sprint, we were pretty stoked to have done it!"
Manly / Ankudinoff (48) finished twelve points ahead of Baker / Edmondson (26), with Plouffe / Martin-Wallace (29) rounding out the podium.
John Veage
Thirty five year photographer for Fairfax -former NSW Chief Photographer for FCN and now Photo Journalist for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in southern Sydney.Official photographer for Cycling Australia (20 years) Official photographer for Surf Life Saving Australia (30 years) Founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire among other things.
Thirty five year photographer for Fairfax -former NSW Chief Photographer for FCN and now Photo Journalist for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in southern Sydney.Official photographer for Cycling Australia (20 years) Official photographer for Surf Life Saving Australia (30 years) Founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire among other things.
