THE sprinting legs of a number of Bathurst riders were put to the test at the NSW Cycling Sprint Grand Prix held at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney last Saturday.

Among the 80 sprinters in action were a couple of world champions showing all the tricks of the trade in one of the most frenetic disciplines of the sport.

The meet was held as one of three being staged by NSW Cycling to give the sprinters a chance to get more track competition under their belts before the state championships.

Tyler Buckley, Renee Covington, Darryl Thorncraft and Marian Renshaw flew the flag for Bathurst and began their respective campaigns by riding a 200 metre fly against the clock. It was used to seed the riders at the start of the round.

Riders were then placed in a series of round robin sprints consisting of one-on-one races over 750m.

That meant that riders would meet up with a different opponent each round and progress up the seeding order.

Buckley posted a solid time to place her in the mid-groupings. She won her first sprint to go into the next round and found herself riding against a male.

She was edged out in that clash, but only narrowly having ridden a good tactical race.

At any rate, she got what she needed to from the meet.

“I was lacking fitness going into that weekend, and the guy I raced must have posted a fairly ordinary time in his qualifier to end up where he did,” she said.

“This is all a preparation for the state titles which for me start next weekend with the 500 metre time trial.

“After that on December 5, 6 and 7 I’ve got the standing 250 metre time trial, the team sprint with Hollee Simons and the keirin, this was a good way to get some time on the track to start preparing for those events.”

Covington set a 12.89 seconds time in qualifying to put her among some of the top-ranked female sprinters in Australia.

She won in her first two rounds before losing in round three.

Thorncraft set a good time himself to earn a spot in the top 16 qualifiers.

He too won his first two sprints, but lost in the third to miss out on progression to the finals.

Renshaw qualified well but her best result was to come in the keirin, where she finished the six-lap motor-paced event in third to grab some prize money and take some points forward to the next Sprint Grand Prix round.