Emily Williams was the victorious rider, collecting a bronze at the recent Australian Road Nationals in Ballarat.

The level of competition was outstanding in Ballarat, with riders vying for gold in the time trial, criterium, and the road race.

Williams' bronze came in the Master's Division 1 criterium event.

In a tight finish Williams finished third and it was a worthy reward after the huge amount of work she has put in on the bike in recent times.

Williams then finished fourth in the time trial to cap a strong national campaign while fellow Dubbo rider Haylee Fuller also stepped up in the under 23s time trial event and finished fifth. Both riders came up against some fierce competition as many riders from around the country concentrate purely on the time trial event.

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Fuller again met some elite talent in her criterium event but managed another fifth while Ben Anderson, who is based in Orange but rides for the Dubbo, was also fifth in his criterium event.

Brothers Kurt and Dylan Eather contested the men's under 23s criterium.

In the event, Dylan tested the resolve of the sprinters by taking blistering flyer with one lap to go.

He was banking that a moment of hesitation would let enough of a gap go that could be sustained to the end. However, the field was very quick to react and with Dylan already fully committed the audacious attack was unfortunately nullified just before the finish.

Kurt Eather, who saw his brother being caught, then put himself into a great position to launch for the line.

Kurt, who is growing in confidence from great finishes in the Lexus Bay Crit Series, was ready to sprint. He threw himself into the final bend and standing up to get moving, he sadly suffered a chain drop which left him unable to go with the front members of the field. The Eather boys threw everything at the fast paced high level race and still produced efforts to be proud of.

The road race featured some absolutely brutal racing that took an intimidating climb at Mt Bunninyong an astonishing 16 times for the elite men and 12 times for the under 23s. Each lap featured climbs of over 200m with an 8.4% gradient.

Fuller contested the combined under 23s and elite women's road race.

In another commendable effort, she was able to finish just behind the main bunch after a select group broke and did battle in a finish which saw Nicole Frain take the win and Alyssa Polites take the under 23s title.

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