TasCarnivals: James claims second crown at Burnie
Logan James backed up his Hobart Bikes and Spikes win with another triumph in the Burnie Gift. Get all the main results and highlights from this year’s TasCarnivals action here.
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He may have claimed $6000 for his troubles, but maintaining the family tradition has always been the main motivation for Logan James after winning the Burnie Gift on New Year’s Eve.
Off a handicap of 10.5 metres in the 120-metre feature, the 23-year-old from Devonport won in 12.68 seconds to beat training partner Jordan Maynard (12.78) and Chris Geordas (12.83).
It continued a strong TasCarvivals campaign for James, who also won Hobart’s Bikes and Spikes.
The prizemoney is nice, but James said he loves continuing the legacy set by his father and coach, Greg, and his uncles he grew up watching as a youngster.
“My old man and his brothers all raced in the Christmas carnivals. I’ve been watching the carnivals since I was young, so it was always one I dreamt about,” he said.
Dad coaches a squad of about nine of us and is doing a good job. We had Adam French win Devonport (Gift), Jordan Maynard second at Burnie, and Adam and my sister made the final at Burnie.
“We’ve got young Chelsea Scolyer and some really good athletes underneath him.”
James was pushed back one metre after his win at Hobart, but still had enough to hold out Maynard.
“I received half a metre lift for winning an earlier carnival earlier in the season, and got pulled a bit more after winning Hobart,” he said.
“My first carnival was when I was 15 years old and I’m now 23. This year has been one of the best seasons in general, all the Tasmanians are getting around each other and even the Victorians coming.
“We had (Jacob) Despard, Josh Azzopardi and some other big names come down. It pulls the people in, no one’s coming down to watch us they want to see the big names.
“For me it’s not about the money, it’s keeping that family tradition. Just packing up and heading out to race.”
The women’s Gift was won by Kayedel Smith (14.38secs off a 8.5 metre handicap), ahead of Emelia Surch (14.44 off four metre handicap).
The open mile was taken out by Darcy Miller ahead of James Collier, Graeme Frislie took out the men’s wheel race over Japan’s Shoi Matsuda, with Matsuda going one better to win the 15km scratch race.
French too strong at Devonport
Burnie’s Adam French added another Gift sash to his Rosebery win by claiming one of the closest Devonport Gift races in recent memory on Sunday.
Running off a 34-metre handicap, French (46.18) edged out Launceston’s Jadyn Crawford and Jobie Wescombe in a blanket finish by one hundredth of a second.
“I did not know if I won or not. I just saw an opening at the end, dived to the line and just got it,” French said.
“About three years ago I got second here and then last year I got Covid, so I’m really happy with that.”
Grindelwald’s Rebecca Von Samorzewski (43 metre handicap) claimed the $2400 winner’s cheque in 52.74 from young up-and-comer Ashley Fehlberg and Launceston’s Zali Wescombe.
“I just did everything I could to hold on and it’s a really proud moment for me,” Von Samorzewski said.
“It’s my biggest win ever. It’s the second time I’ve run it. In 2022 I did not make the final but I’ve put a lot of work in since then.”
Cooee’s Josh Febey iced the Rosebery-Devonport double in the mile, winning off 310 metres in 3:55.40.
“It’s a prestigious race and it’s good to win it,” said the 27-year-old after holding off a field featuring Burnie 10 champ Sam Clifford and two-time Olympic finalist Stewart McSweyn.
“I thought if I ran like I did at Rosebery and kept going to the end anything was possible.”
The 150m running races were taken out by Victorians Caitlyn Nicholson (off 25.5m) and Callum James (16m).
In the bikes, New Zealander Daniel Morton won the men’s wheelrace and Japan’s Mizuki Ikeda the women’s.
Queenslander and carnival regular Kristina Clonan beat Launceston’s Lauren Perry by 0.06 seconds in the women’s keirin, while another Queenslander Byron Davies claimed the men’s over Kiwi Magnus Jamieson in an even tighter affair.
Devonport’s James triumphant as bike events cancelled at Hobart’s Bikes and Spikes
Devonport’s Logan James claimed the Hobart Bikes and Spikes men’s 100m Gift prize on Friday.
The 23-year-old finished first off an 8.75m handicap in a close victory ahead of Jaydn Crawford and Ethan Quintana, with no official time provided.
While nervous during the heats, James said he was glad the sun came out just in time for the men’s event.
“I’m only a little boy so running into a headwind that moves quicker than I can sprint was a bit nerve racking,” he said.
“I sat in the car this morning slowly going through the motions but it was great.
“I’m feeling so good. It means a lot and I don’t really have the words to describe it.”
He will return to Devonport tonight for a day off tomorrow before running in the 150m event on Sunday.
He shared the victory with women’s winner Emelia Surch, who in her first ever Gift finished 11.61 seconds off a 3.75m handicap ahead of Rebecca von Samorzewski and Kiani Alllen.
Hailing from the Gold Coast, Surch said “it was fun to run in not perfect conditions”.
“The weather’s been challenging but I’ve really enjoyed today,” she said.
“I wasn’t confident going into it and I didn’t know what the go was when I rocked up here, but I had a smile on my face and got some runs in.
“I’d love to do more Gifts in the future and I’ll definitely be back next year.”
The race took place at the end of a wild weather day for Hobart, which forced the cancellation of the carnival’s cycling events.
McKenzie overcomes horrific crash to make strong return at Launceston’s Gilmore Classic
All Tasmanian cyclist Hamish McKenzie could remember was a car blindsiding him on a training ride, then waking up surrounded by hospital walls.
It was a crash he was “lucky to survive”, let alone his burgeoning career which already boasts two world championship medals.
But after four surgeries and less than three weeks back on the bike, the 20-year-old paid homage to his former coach by coming second behind Japan’s Shoi Matsuda in Thursday’s Gilmore Classic in his home town Launceston.
The crash just outside Monaco in September happened just two days before the world championships in Switzerland, where McKenzie was looking to add gold to the juniors silver and under-23 bronze he’d already claimed.
He said getting back on the bike in the first criterium race in Launceston since 2019, but also being competitive, was a great relief after a successful recovery.
“I was itching to get out there. I was sitting at home basically in my bed and not being able to do anything for a while, it was frustrating,” McKenzie told this masthead.
“It was pretty scary, quite a fast crash downhill. I was pretty lucky to be honest, it could have been a lot worse.
“I was knocked out for a little bit so I think everyone was scared, and not being in Australia my family can’t see me and they’re worried.
“I have a great support network over in Europe so they looked after me and mum came over, which was really nice.”
McKenzie had surgeries to repair a patella fracture, his septum, lip and a bad arm on his arm.
“In cycling you never know what’s going to happen, there’s so many variables. It’s not the safest sport,” McKenzie.
“The car came out onto the road, and next minute I had a bunch of (hospital) walls surrounding me when I woke up.
“Hopefully it’s a better year for me next year, that’s the plan. I got hit by a car in Croatia, I’ve had some back luck this year.”
Hamish’s dad and Gilmore Classic co-race director, Paul, said it was a worrying time for the family.
“It’s not the call you like to get at two in the morning,” Paul said.
“It looks like it’s going to be all OK, but he was lucky to survive to be honest. He was unconscious on the side of the road for 45 minutes.
“He wanted to race (in Launceston) because he was coached by Matthew Gilmore, he was desperate to pin a number on.
“I was a bit emotional (watching him) at the end because I knew he worked so hard to get back on the bike. And the way he rode, he didn’t just sit in.”
Hamish, who will transfer over to Jayco’s world tour team in 2025, said the race named after local cycling champions Matthew and Graeme Gilmore was the perfect setting to restart his career.
“It was nice to be actually in the race, and feel like I was racing for the win,” he said.
“Dad ran the event and I saw how much work he put into it, and the Gilmores have been so good to me over the years.
“Matt was my coach and it was special to race that. I wasn’t actually going to race but I thought I’d do it for Dad and Matt, and it turned out to be a really special day.”
Matsuda made a break with around a lap left as he, McKenzie and third placegetter Kurt Eather separated themselves from the pack.
Eather and McKenzie managed to pass him with a lap left, but McKenzie’s legs cramped after a lack of racing.
“It was very surprising (to ride so well). A few of my mates are pros who came down to race and we had a plan, I actually felt pretty good.
“It was just a bit of conditioning. That’s why I cramped but it’ll come once the season starts.
“I’ve been on the bike five weeks and the first three were seven hours for the whole week. “The last two wees I did 17 and then 23, I’ve trained normally. It’s been a lot of easy hours and not a lot of intensity, that’s why it was surprising I did well yesterday.”
Paul said organiser were rapt with the entry and numbers for the criterium’s return, where New South Welshman Keira Will beat local favourite Georgia Baker for the elite women’s crown.
Other winners: B grade - Caleb McKenzie, C grade - Dylan Locke, D grade - Chris Jones, E grade - Dylan Forbes, F grade - Tony Savage, Junior female under 13 - Rory Stretton, Junior female under 15 - Ellie Walouck, Junior male under 13 - Levi Digney, Junior male under 15 - Oscar Digney
Earlier: Frislie ready to take on Olympic gold medallist flatmate at TasCarnivals
Graeme Frislie described watching his flatmate Conor Leahy win Olympic gold as “pretty special”.
But come Boxing Day, the pair will be looking to celebrate the festive season by outpointing one another when the Launceston criterium makes a return after a hiatus.
Christened the Gilmore Classic in honour of local cycling legends Matthew and Graeme Gilmore, the event is in addition to the regular track-based carnival in Launceston, scheduled for the Silverdome on December 28.
Frislie, a 24-time national champion across a number of disciplines, won multiple races during last year’s TasCarnivals and will race at every event this year.
Leahy was part of Australia’s quartet which won team pursuit gold in Paris, setting a new world record along the way.
Frislie was part of the squad which trained together, mainly in their Adelaide base as well as Europe.
“I live with Conor so we spend a lot of time together. He’s good to race against, he’s always super strong,” Frislie said.
“It was pretty special to be a part of the team (pre-Olympics) and the build-up, to see some of my best mates do that was pretty incredible.
“It’s a pretty positive environment we have within the boys. What brings that success is having that rivalry and pushing each other, but still being mates at the end of the day.
“It was pretty special to watch them achieve that, everyone in that team has worked so hard and put in so much behind the scenes off the track that no one gets to see.”
Leahy’s Olympic teammate Oliver Bleddyn was originally scheduled to compete in Tasmania, but has opted to focus on preparing for the Tour Down Under.
Frislie won the Launceston Wheelrace last year and is looking to repeat the dose on the road.
“I raced it a few times as a junior, I’m excited to race around the streets of Launnie again,” he said.
“It will be a bit interesting flying out so early on Boxing Day and racing, I reckon it will be the first time I’ve done that. It should be a fun week.
“It’s just fun going down there, it’s alway a nice atmosphere and a good group of athletes. The period of time between Christmas and New Years is always pretty positive and I just love racing.
“I haven’t been training as much as I have previously going into these summer races. I should be able to pull something out but we’ll see what happens.”
Other athletes set to race in the cycling events in Tasmania include back-to-back national 1000m time trial champion Byron Davies, Kiwi duo Marshall Erwood and Mitchel Fitzsimons and a handful of Japanese riders including Eiya Hashimoto.
The women’s races will feature back-to-back junior world champion Nicole Duncan, Launceston product and former world champion Lauren Perry and sprint star Kristina Conan.
Racing in Launceston’s CBD begins with the juniors on Boxing Day from 2pm, with the women’s elite race to begin at 5.10pm (45 minutes, plus three laps) and the men at 6.10pm (60 minutes plus three laps).
Roads will close at 1pm and reopen at 8pm.
Azzopardi ready to square off against Olympic teammate
They joined forces to shatter a national relay record in Paris, but Josh Azzopardi has his sights set on spoiling Jacob Despard’s homecoming party during Tasmania’s Christmas carnivals.
Despard and New South Welshman Azzopardi were part of Australia’s 100m relay team which finished ninth at the Olympics in a time of 38.12 seconds, just ahead of the previous national and Oceania mark of 38.17.
Azzopardi and Despard will square off over 120m at Burnie on New Year’s Eve, with Azzopardi to also feature at Devonport (December 29) and Despard at Hobart’s ‘Bikes and Spikes’ on December 27.
Azzopardi said the relay squad had forged a strong bond in the lead-up to the Games, and helped avenge an unfortunate Commonwealth Games campaign where a botched baton exchange cost them any chance.
“It was huge, we’d been chasing it (national record) for a while and had been doing a lot of training together,” Azzopardi said.
“For it to finally pay off at an Olympics was pretty huge for us. Obviously we would have liked to have made that final, but the next best thing is probably a national record.
“Moving forward next year, hopefully we can make the final in the world champs at Tokyo.
“You do a lot of training together, and you understand how each athlete works. I think we proved that, going to the Bahamas and qualifying for Paris. We’d done all the training and baton changes with each other. That went to another level in Paris after we’d done an extra six months of training, we nailed it and broke the national record.”
Azzopardi has enjoyed the team dynamic of relays after locking horns with his squad members in individual races throughout the year.
“It’s pretty cool. We go head to head all year and always try and get one up on each other, but to come together for it, it’s pretty special to share it with those boys,” he said.
“You become really good mates at relay camps and travelling with them, they become a second family.”
But once he takes the blocks alongside Despard, the youngest ever Burnie Gift winner when just 16, the friendship will be put on ice for a few seconds.
“We always try and go head to head with each other through the domestic season,” Azzopardi said.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t like me to come down and beat him, but that’s what I’m going to try and do.
“I’m excited to get down and see what the vibes are like at different places.”
Another big name set to grace the circuit is Conor Leahy, who was part of Australia’s gold medal-winning and world record setting team pursuit quartet in Paris.
Carnival regulars Graeme Frislie, Kurt Eather, James Moriarty and New Zealand’s Marshall Erwood are also confirmed for the bike events, as well as Japanese world champion Tsuyaka Uchino.
Burnie Ten victor and recent national 10km runner up Sam Clifford will feature at Hobart, Devonport and Burnie, and will clash with dual Olympian Stewart McSweyn.
One of Australia’s breakout athletes in Paris, sprinter Tori West, will return for the Hobart, Devonport and Burnie legs.
However, Tasmania fan favourite Jack Hale is expected to withdraw from the sprint events with a calf injury.
CARNIVAL SCHEDULE
December 21 - Rosebery
December 26 - Launceston Criterium
December 27 - Bikes and Spikes, Hobart
December 28 - Launceston
December 29 - Devonport
December 30 - Ulverstone Criterium
December 31 - Burnie
January 18 - St Helens
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