Reuben ready for continental sprint

MONTHS don’t get much busier for Reuben Smith as he looks to take it up to some of Oceania’s and Australia’s best in the velodrome. Reuben has qualified for his first international level meet at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Cambridge, New Zealand, with the championships to get underway on Wednesday, February 14. And before he can even be settled at home, Reuben will drive off to Brisbane for the AusCycling Elite and under 19s National Track Championships from March 1 at the Anna Meares Velodrome. Jetting off for New Zealand on Monday, Reuben said it was an exciting opportunity to be representing the green and gold for the first time. “What my coach is looking at is more so the numbers rather than sprinting off against other people, because those sort of tactics and skills take a long time to perfect and get right,” he said. “Either later this year or next year, I’m just looking forward at the moment and trying to get myself in a good position to compete at these bigger events.” This year will be Reuben’s second appearance at the nationals, where the 17-year-old placed fourth in two team events representing his state last year. Reuben said while he wasn’t able to finish with the results he was after, the experience of competing among the country’s biggest up and coming track stars was thrilling in itself. “I wasn’t doing sprinting at the time, I was trying to be an enduro rider; now that I’ve switched over to sprinting I’m looking forward to my results and looking forward to the future,” he said. Since putting a further emphasis on sprint training on the track over the past eight months, the year 12 Wangaratta High School student has enjoyed a successful run in a short period of time, with his highlight coming with a Melbourne Cup on Wheels win in November last year. Reuben said the change from three years of predominantly endurance based riding to sprinting was initially a shock to the system, but he has reaped the rewards since. “I’m probably more built for sprinting, as I’m growing, the body kind of decides for you what you do,” he said. “I wanted to do endurance, I enjoyed it a lot more, but due to the results from states... I felt I had no choice to choose sprinting or go home. “I’ve got a bit of confidence up now with my sprinting, the tactical side of it is going to take me a while to get used to, but speedwise I’m doing pretty well.” Over both Oceania and national meets, Reuben will compete in the under 19s men’s sprints, one kilometre time trial, the keirin, and the team sprint. The events present the 17-year-old an opportunity to gain a boost in international UCI points over a short period of time, with the aspirations to climb higher in the ranking and be invited to more international-level events in the future. While preparing to amass a near 7000km travelled off the bike in the space of 10 days, Reuben said the hunger for competition and proving himself against the best will be more than enough motivation to see him through his busy program. “I love the feeling of being around fast people, especially when I live in Wangaratta there’s not a lot of movement when it comes to cycling,” he said. "Being around the top notch, fit people who are putting out really good times, it’s a different kind of feeling, very professional. “I found myself missing that feeling when I left nationals last year and rather than being nervous I’m really looking forward to getting back into that velodrome.”

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