Santos Festival of Cycling

While the four-stage road race ended on Sunday with Team Garmin Australia winning both the men’s and women’s blistering criteriums at Victoria Park, the week-long festival showcased many other cycling disciplines as well.

Starting at the velodrome on Tuesday, the Santos Festival of Cycling brought together mountain biking, cyclo-cross, BMX and paracycling – reflecting the new look AusCycle that now oversees all the cycling disciplines that up until now were represented by separate organisations.   

The road race continued to thrill, however, with youngster Sarah Gigante winning the Women’s General Classification, and most other jerseys, with an impressive week. Her efforts inspired teammates on Team Garmin Australia to secure the team classification, with Georgia Baker winning the final criterium.

Luke Durbridge of Team BikeExchangeheld claimed the men’s title, using his two-minute advantage from an 80km solo effort on the opening stage to withstand all challengers throughout the weekend. Team Garmin Australia provided many of the other highlights, however, including Olympian Sam Welsford winning the crit on Sunday and youngster Luke Plapp on the wheel of teammate and cycling superstar Richie Porte on the way up Willunga Hill on Saturday.

Softball

Softball SA State Championship Women’s Grand Final

It was a tight affair in the Softball SA State Championships Women’s Grand Final, with Adelaide battling it out with Hills for bragging rights. Hills took a 2-0 early lead, but couldn’t hold it, conceding three runs not long after. Yet, Hills found enough to claw back and win 4-3, dashing Adelaide’s hopes on a scorching Sunday afternoon.

Softball SA State Championship Men’s Grand Final

The Hills men looked to replicate the women’s team, getting off to a great start by taking a 3-0 lead against NAMSA. NAMSA, however, wasn’t going away, clawing the game back to 3-3, ten minutes later. From that point on, NAMSA didn’t look back, taking out a 6-4 win against the Hills to be crowned champs.

Baseball

The 2021 SA Women’s state team has been announced, featuring the likes of Angela Mourtzios, Elisa Gooley and Alice Prokopec. The team will compete in the upcoming 2021 Australia Women’s Championship held at West Beach in April. Adelaide will host the tournament for the first time since its inception. The championship will make its return after last year’s event—set to be held in Canberra—was cancelled due to COVID-19.

It will be a busy period of baseball in South Australia, with the Australian Junior League Championships also being held in Adelaide from May 16-20.

Swimming

SA State Open & Multi Class Championships

The long course championship was held at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre over the weekend and showcased multiple high-class battles. None arguably better than in the Female 100 LC Metre Freestyle A – Final, as Madison Wilson displayed a dominant performance grabbing first with a time of 53.99 SAQT. The result saw Wilson finish 2.1 seconds quicker than second-placed Beth Mounfield, who finished with a time of 56.09 SAQT.

Athletics

Interclub week 7

It doesn’t get any tighter of a finish than this, with Lachlan Sands and Sam Peter battling it out in the men’s 100 metre seeded, section 3, with only millimetres separating first from second. Sands grabbed first with a time of 11.70, which was 0.01 seconds quicker than Peter’s 11.71.

Touch Football

Junior Alliance Cup

The Northern Territory Devils U13’s will be out for revenge in today’s Under 13 Boy’s grand final against SA Vipers U16, after Vipers smashed the Devils 13-0 last Saturday. The devils will use the thumping as extra motivation in the match this morning on Park 17 at Tuthangga.

Triathlon

West Lakes Tri Series

Many triathletes will not be resting on their Australia day, as the West Lakes Tri Series round 2 kicks off tomorrow. The sold-out event will see athletes complete a long course of a 1km swim, 32km bike ride and a 7.5km run.

International

Cricket

The Australian cricket team have requested to jump the queue for COVID-19 vaccinations before departing for their tour in South Africa on February 24. The Health Department, so far, has rejected the requests, prioritising the delegation of vaccines to essential groups such as frontline workers. Cricket Australia will be determined to avoid an outbreak during the tour, as they look to bounce back from their poor performance against India.