These girls know how to light it up, first in the race, then on the podium! Props to Laura McCaughey (read: McCorkey) for grabbin’ the Scratch race win at Aussie Track Nats and my teammate Jess Maclean for taking home the silver medal. Toireasa Gallagher (NSW, right), took third.
Here’s the story from Cycling news . . .
Tasmanian rider Laura McCaughey rode the race of her life to upstage her more fancied rivals, including team-mate Belinda Goss, to claim the scratch race title. “I can’t wipe the smile off my face, it’s starting to hurt but I’m so incredibly rapt. It just shows that believing in yourself and backing yourself really works,” the elated winner said. “It’s the first time I’ve really done it and thank god it paid off!” McCaughey and Toireasa Gallagher (NSW) slipped away from the field with 13 laps remaining, joined two laps later by Jessie MacLean (ACT) and Josephine Butler (WA).
The opening ten laps were run at a solid tempo, before the first two attacks came from Josie Tomic (WA). Goss lead a group of six soon after the half way mark, but was reeled in with fifteen minutes remaining, setting up McCaughey’s counter attack. A fall involving one of the pre-race favourites, Skye-Lee Armstrong (NSW) and Esther Pugh-Uren (Victoria) soon after the winning attack made little difference to the final result, with the combined efforts of Goss, Josie Tomic (WA), Kirsty Broun (Queensland) and Tess Downing (Victoria) not enough to close the half lap gap to the leaders.
McCaughey jumped away from her tiring companions, coming into the final lap and taking the win well clear, with MacLean holding on for the silver medal ahead of Gallagher. The 26 year-old winner is a former state level runner, who turned to cycling after a serious back injury. Coached by Jame Carney, the US track star who has been a regular visitor to the Tasmanian Christmas carnivals, McCaughey said she had gone into the race with “no tactics, just instinct. I wasn’t marking anyone, because I know that with a scratch race if you race it ten times you’ll get ten different winners.”
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