AFTER YEARS OF BUILD UP, MONTHS OF FEVERISH anticipation, and the final few weeks of absolute excitement, the eight-day cycling extravaganza that was the Wollongong World Championships eventually got underway.
Sadly, the great numbers – widely promised and promoted as 300,000 – didn’t seem to eventuate with a slow start to proceedings. Those who were there enjoyed some wonderful racing over the first few days with the Elite and Junior’s Men’s & Women’s Time Trial riders racing around an impressive street circuit. But sadly, Wollongong’s CBD remained surprisingly quiet and almost empty by night. The ‘non-stop festival of cycling’ – still being touted on the event website – didn’t seem to ever get rolling.
By Wednesday there was some momentum with – maybe surprisingly – the Team Time Trial / Mixed Relay drawing more interest, better crowd numbers, and the
