Jewish cyclists hit the track

FOUR Jewish cyclists took part in the 2013 Cycling Victoria Club Teams Track Championships (juniors) at the Darebin International Sports Centre recently, all representing the Caulfield Carnegie Cycling Club (CCCC) against several state and national champions.

Shoshana Kogan-Lazarous, aged 14 from The King David School, and Lele Kaltmann, also 14 from Leibler-Yavneh College, were part of CCCC’s under-17 team pursuit squad that won the bronze medal.

Kaltmann also raced in the team sprint event, placing fifth with teammate Grace Mennen, who helped the girls win bronze in the pursuit.

Eight-year-old Mount Scopus Memorial College student Aden Green stepped up to race at the under-11 level and did well to place fifth overall in the team sprint.

The King David School student Adam Paykel-Samuel, 14, also did well for CCCC, finishing seventh in the under-17 team sprint, before narrowly missing out on bronze in the team pursuit, after his threesome was chased down by the classy Brunswick side despite being just 0.6 seconds behind at one point.

It was a stellar effort considering the CCCC team qualified over nine seconds slower than its opponents to reach the medal play-off.

Kogan-Lazarous, Kaltmann and Paykel-Samuel are all part of the CCCC’s Junior Development Program, which sets out to develop the youngsters into high-quality professional riders and has produced several Australian and world champions, while Green is on the waiting list hoping to join the program in the near future.

Ashley Shenker

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