Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) claimed the Australian time trial throne left vacant by a retiring Grace Brown, winning the elite women’s race against the clock at the AusCycling Road National Championships in emphatic style.
In her very first race in UAE Team ADQ colours Chapman delivered a time of 39:53 on the 38.4km course on Thursday, more than 32 seconds ahead of second-placed Amber Pate (Liv AlUla Jayco) and a minute ahead of Anya Louw (AG Insurance-Soudal).
Chapman was the final rider set off and started reeling in riders that had started ahead, but wasn’t for a second changing her game plan as she kept her gaze firmly on the task of adding a national time trial title jersey to the road race one she picked up in 2023.
“What other people are doing doesn’t really impact my race,” said Chapman in an interview with reporters in Perth. “When I almost caught them I was like, okay, I know that I at least beat them, but I knew that Amber Pate was the one to watch but yeah, I mean, knowing where she’s at doesn’t really make me push any harder.
I’m just pushing as hard as I can anyway.”
And that, turned out to be more than enough for the rider who last year came second to Brown at the event, despite grappling with some gear issues out on course.
Thursday’s race against the clock took place on a course around Bold Park in Perth, as the National Championships moved across the country, ending a more than two decade long run of Ballarat as host. The elite and U23 women took on three laps of a 9.8km loop with 109m of elevation gain per lap that was situated between the CBD and coast. The finish line was just off the loop, delivering a final corner that brought some riders unstuck in the Junior and men’s U23 categories on Wednesday.
“The fastest thing to do is stay on your bike, so that was my first goal today,” said Chapman when asked about the finishing section.
In the U23 women’s category on Thursday it was a tight battle between South Australia’s Alli Anderson and Tasmanian Lidl-Trek rider Felicity Wilson-Haffenden. In the end Anderson crossed the line with a time of 40:54 to take victory ahead of the 2023 junior world time trial champion, but there was just 1.8 seconds in it. The 19-year-old Oceania U23 time trial champion Sophie Sammons (Praties) was third.
“I still can’t believe it’s real,” Anderson told reporters in Perth. “I worked so hard for this and I just can’t believe that I pulled it off.”
Anderson had struggled with health problems in 2024 but signalled that she was well and truly back in December when she walked away from the Tour of Bright with the overall win.
“I came in knowing I’m in the best form of my life and as long as I can execute a good ride,” said Anderson. “If someone beats me on the day you can’t control that and I didn’t get beaten so I’ll take that!”
While it may have been the beginning of a new era in Perth for many of the riders, it was a farewell for three-time gold medallist Paralympian and nine-time Para-Cycling world champion Carol Cooke, who walked away with another national title after the 19.2km T2 time trial and will on Saturday tackle the climbs of the Kings Park course in the road race.
Cooke had originally hoped to retire in 2024 with a final Paralympics in Paris, but illness intervened. Still, she managed to come back in time for the World Championships, which was her final international race. She then stretched her racing days into 2025 – the rider who first raced the National Championships in 2011 will say goodbye in Perth.
“I just hope that I’ve left a legacy, that it doesn’t matter the number attached to you, that if you enjoy doing something you keep doing it and I’ve seen Para-cycling change from 2011 to now and I’m very proud of how I’ve been able to help get it to where it is now,” said Cooke in an interview with reporters at the event.
“There is still a long way to go and I’ll probably still be around bugging people till the day I die most likely, just to make sure there is inclusiveness and equality.”
