Trio hit good form at WA State Championships

Albany trio Emily and Danica Wiggins and Jessica Waldron have returned from the WA State Championships with medals from the in-dividual time trial and road race championships on consecutive days in the South West last month.

The individual time trial championships were held on a flat course along the water in Australind, and in ideal conditions Emily Wiggins proved too strong in the under-15 women’s 8.5km race, winning by more than a minute.

Danica was a strong chance to win the under-17 women’s 14km race but a flat tyre ended her hopes, while Waldron narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the same event, crossing the line in fourth place.

Albany’s Riley Heslop rode strongly in the under-17 men’s race to claim fifth place with less than a minute separating the top five.

The following day the road race championships were held on a very challenging course in Dardanup where Emily won a second medal, while Danica and Waldron also finished on the podium in their respective events.

In the 35km under-15 women’s race, Emily was part of a three-rider breakaway early in the race and then in a sprint finish she crossed the line in second place to win a silver medal.

Danica and Waldron contested the under-17 women’s 68km road race and were both part of a five-strong breakaway midway through the race.

That group stayed together until the finish, whe Danica produced a strong sprint kick to win a thrilling race to the line in a time of 2hr.10min.14.642sec. from Dharlia Haines (2:10:14.731) while Waldron was third in 2:10:17.071.

Heslop competed in the under-17 men’s 68km road race and continued his strong weekend, sitting in the leading bunch of riders until the sprint finish, when he struggled to get a clean run and was officially 11th.

All four riders will return to the Bunbury region later this month to contest the 2018 Junior Road National Championships, consisting of time trial, road race and criterium events.