CYCLING: Bundaberg cyclist Duncan Allen is set to make his first ride in New Zealand for Queensland at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships 2020.
Allen said having been racing in and around the Queensland team for a few years now, he was excited to have been selected for the Oceania event.
The local rider has been selected to compete in the individual sprint and The Kilo and possibly the team sprint and team pursuit at the championships.
Since the selection Allen said he had been training “pretty intensely” to prepare for the race.
“(I’ve been) switching from the road bike because I was starting to train for some longer events and do some road racing and then had to quickly switch back to some track racing and shorten up the sprint,” he said.
Allen said while he was trying the road racing out, he prefers the track scene.
OFF TO OCEANIA: Duncan Allen has been selected to represent Queensland at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships. Mikayla Haupt
This will be the first time heading over to the Oceania event and Allen said he was looking forward to travelling internationally with the Queensland team to bond as a group and race as hard as possible once they get there.
“It’s good, we have a tight-knit community in the Queensland team,” he said.
“We like being with each other and racing with each other spurs us on – it’s great to be heading over there with them.”
He said the main difference heading into Oceania would be the climate.
“The only thing I can think of is the climate, because obviously here we’re use to hotter weather and we’re suited to it more I guess and going over there it could be quite cool,” he said.
“The track could perform different under temperatures… to what we’re used to.”
Allen said typically a colder track could mean faster times so there should be some fast racing at the championships.
Having been racing for some years now and peddling to great success, the Bundy teen said the idea of being “you and the machine” is one of the elements he liked about the sport. “You have to perform well with the machine, you have to maintain the machine and you just perform as best you can to what budget you have.
“Some people go right out and blow their budget, they spend big on their bikes and you really don’t need to.
“You can just find well looked after and maintained equipment and go from there…”
He said when it came to track cycling there was a thrill that came with racing without brakes or gears.
“You get the drive and the adrenaline going,” Allen said.
Bundaberg Cycling Club president Wayne Morden praised Allen’s ability on the track and also helping mentor younger riders in the club.
“Duncan’s shown his talent through the endurance on the track as well as the sprint event, we’re really proud of the fact that we’ve got a cyclist in the club that can go across the two disciplines, endurance and sprint,” he said. “And obviously that’s causing a lot of headaches for the selectors of the state team.” Allen is set to go on October 13.
