Trident High School’s Lilly Collombet showed she’s a cyclist to watch for the future following her efforts at the Elite Road Nationals in Timaru on Waitangi weekend.

It was Lilly’s first time competing at the national championships and at under-19 level, and she loved the experience.

Having done the Junior Tour of Southland last November, Lilly was more confident with competing away from home and in the South Island.
She was honoured to win a podium spot in her first appearance at u19 level.

“I am very proud of my bronze medal in the road race. It was really special being there representing Whakatāne Cycle Club.”

“It was a great learning experience and exciting being able to compete in a race at this level.  The road race was tough, but the course suited me well having the hill climbs. It was my first time competing in an event of this scale and getting to race in the same event as the pros was really cool.”

She puts part of her success down to a strong training period.

“My training has been going really well. I’ve been training a lot and felt good coming up to the race.”

Her goal for Timaru was to be competitive.
“My focus for the road race was to be in the front group challenging for the win on the final lap.”

She said conditions were pretty good and it was a strong field, so it made for competitive racing.

“The course was 69 kilometres for the u19 women road race. We did three laps, which were undulating with a hill climb at the end of each lap. It was a steep hill, and the race finished at the top.  During the road race, it was cloudy and cool, with a bit of drizzle and not too much wind so the conditions were pretty good for riding.

“The time trial; it was wet, windy and cold so the conditions weren’t great for racing.”  

“The level of competition was really high. All the girls in my age group are really strong and everyone is super-competitive, which makes for great racing. The toughest part of the race was the last hill climb before the finish. There were four of us left and everyone was pushing themselves as hard as they could to get to the line.”    

Despite missing a medal in the time trial, she was proud of her efforts.
“I came seventh. The course was 14.8km out and back. It was a great learning experience as this was the first time trial I’ve ever done at this level.”

Next, she is swapping her road bike for a mountain bike as she competes in the National Mountain Bike Champs in Rotorua.