Facing a vicious cycle

Ben Walkerden is in premier cyclocross form after winning the Victorian and Australian Under-19 titles this year. 143229 Picture: JARROD POTTER

By JARROD POTTER

CYCLOCROSS is only in its first significant pedal strokes in Australia, but in that short time Berwick’s Ben Walkerden has already managed to excel at the combination sport.
Walkerden, 17, has become the Under-19 Australian and Victorian junior champion after relishing the terrain at a hellacious Essendon Fields circuit last month.
What exactly is cyclocross though? Imagine a sport combining the off-road cycling of a mountainbike race with the rigorous uphill running of cross country … with the added burden of carrying your bike up the hill or over the obstacles.
“You’re virtually running a road bike then mountainbike tyres and you’ve got to go through sand, run up stairs and jump over barriers,” Walkerden said. “It’s about four kilometres a lap and we do as many laps as we can in about 50 minutes.
“Compared to all the road and mountainbiking, it’s a different kind of sport – it is super tough, you’re on the go the whole time, but it is super fun.”
Needless to say, cyclocross is not for the faint of heart but it’s a sport that’s taken the Berwick College student to the peaks of Australian junior cycling success.
Whatever obstacles have been thrown at him in the events – pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and the requisite mud and sleet that only a winter Australian sport could offer – Walkerden has taken in his stride as he’s excelled at both state and national level ahead of bigger prizes on the horizon.
“Both held at Essendon Fields – for the state champs I think it was pretty good weather, not too muddy, for that one I led start to finish the whole race,” Walkerden said. “Same as the national champs – took off at the start and then won that as well.
“I was super stoked – just happy and it was a big relief after having a pretty horrible mountainbike season, so it was such a good feeling to win these cyclocross titles.”
He’s hoping to pack up his bike and head to Europe to compete in the world cyclocross championships early next year – one of the few Australians to make the journey to the home of the sport and compete against the best on the planet.
“The plan’s now hopefully to go to Belgium in January for the world champs,” Walkerden said. “Nice and muddy and snowy – it’s going to be tough after going through 40 degrees here for summer then going over there.
“I guess I just want to have a good race – winning would be super tough, but hopefully just making the top 30, top 20 – that would be great.”
He’s also qualified for the Victorian Schools Cycling Championships (VSSCC) state championship race in Bendigo later this year after a high-ranking finish at the Dromana mountainbiking event.
Walkerden wanted to thank Halkswood Training Systems and Life of Bikes for their support of his cyclocross goals.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring Walkerden in his cyclocross journey, he can be contacted via auspom1@bigpond.com.