Full speed ahead as Bendigo Madison carnival makes its return

One of the marquee sporting events on the Bendigo calendar, the Bendigo International Madison hasn't been held since 2020 due to a combination of COVID (2021 and 2022) and upgrade delays at the Tom Flood Sports Centre (2023).

As well as being the return of the Madison, this year also doubles as the 50^th in the event's history, with it being first held in 1972.

"There's a good buzz around the carnival returning and, hopefully, we get the crowd back to what it used to be," Madison director Rik McCaig said on Friday.

"I suppose after four years there's always that bit of an unknown about whether the people will come back, so there's always that bit of anxiety being the first one back, but having said that, the people of Bendigo have always embraced the carnival and I'm sure it will be a great weekend."

Hot weather will greet the return of the Madison this weekend, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting highs of 37 for Bendigo on both Saturday and Sunday.

"It's going to be warm, but I think athletes are pretty good these days in how to look after themselves in the heat and it's one of those extra challenges you have when you're competing," McCaig said.

"We'll keep an eye on the heat policies relating to cycling and athletics and adhere to those.

"We may need to have some extended breaks between events, but we'll just adapt to what is required."

The men's and women's Madison races will be contested on Sunday night.

The men's Madison will be raced over 200 laps and feature 13 teams, including three Bendigo riders - Blake Agnoletto, Curtis Harrison and Josh Clarke, who was this season's Bendigo District Cycling Club track champion.

Agnoletto enters the Madison as the reigning Australian Madison champion having won the title with Kell O'Brien in December.

On Sunday night Agnoletto will team up with South Australia's Ollie Bleddyn as he chases a hometown triumph.

This will be Bleddyn's first Madison in Bendigo, while Agnoletto has contested it twice previously in 2019 (with Henry Dietze) and 2020 (with Connor Sens).

"2019 and 2020 were my first big Madisons, so it was all about learning as much as I can in those races," Agnoletto said on Friday.

"My main goal back then was to just get through them and get some experience, but four years on a lot has changed and I have a lot more Madisons under my belt now, so, hopefully, we can have a good impact on this race."

The men's Madison features two international teams competing with New Zealand's Bailey O'Donnell and James Gardner and Germany's Moritz Augenstein and Moritz Malcharek in the field, as well as the last winner, Connor Leahy.

Leahy won the 2020 Madison and will be defending his title alongside team-mate Graeme Frislie.

The men's Madison will be raced at 8.15pm and will follow the women's Madison at 6.50pm.

The women's 70-lap Madison has a strong Bendigo contingent with four local riders - the all-Bendigo team of Lilyth Jones and Belinda Bailey plus Milana Freer and Haylee Jack.

Jones heads into Sunday night's race having earlier this week won the under-19 women's Madison at the Cycling Australia Track Championships in Brisbane, while for 18-year-old Freer, she's excited to be competing in her first women's Madison at the carnival.

Freer will team with Melbourne's Alana Hribar.

"It's an exciting opportunity because I've watched quite a few Madisons over the years," Freer said this week.

"It's something I've always wanted to do. It will be a really good learning experience. There's quite a bit of depth in the race, so we will be out there doing the best we can."

The women's Madison was first held in 2013, with McCaig labelling this year's field the deepest in the race's history.

As well as the Madison races, the feature events on the cycling program also include Saturday night's Golden Mile Wheelrace (1600m).

The Golden Mile Wheelrace final, now sponsored by Agnico Eagle Fosterville Mine, is slated for 8.30pm Saturday night.

There are more than 600 entries for the athletics, which get the carnival under way from 1pm on Saturday with the heats of the 70m Handicap.

Key events on day one of the athletics program include the 800m women's final (1.45pm), 120m Masters final (3.40pm), under-14 mixed 120m final (3.45pm), 70m final (6.25pm), under-18 male 120m handicap final (6.43pm), under-18 female 120m handicap final (6.46pm) and the open male 800m handicap final (8.40pm).

Saturday night will also include the heats of the Black Opal male 400m handicap between 7.20pm and 7.35pm and the heats of the Black Pearl female 400m handicap between 8.14pm and 8.20pm.

Both finals will be run on Sunday night, with the Black Pearl at 7.40pm followed by the Black Opal at 7.50pm.

Among the contenders for the Black Opal will be Ballarat's Cooper Sherman, who last month won the Ballarat Gift and has a 400m personal best of 45.89.

19-year-old Sherman will be running off scratch, while Bendigo runners entered include Matthew Noden (38m), Sam Storer (24m) and Lonain Burnett (39m).

In the Black Pearl Bendigo's Genevieve Nihill will be running off 6m, while the field also includes Olympian Kendra Hubbard (3m).

Hubbard represented Australia in the women's 4 x 400m relay at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, while also chasing Black Pearl glory will be Liv Ryan (4m), who won the Stawell Gift women's race in 2017.

Ryan is also a previous winner of the Black Pearl in 2019 when she was 18.

The Black Opal and Black Pearl are among the marquee athletics events on the program, along with the Bendigo Thousand over 120m.

The male and female heats for the Bendigo Thousand will be run on Saturday afternoon, with the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon followed by the finals during the evening session.

The female final will be at 6.05pm and the men's final at 6.10pm.

Olympian Hubbard is also running in the Bendigo Thousand.

Sunday night's athletics will also feature the men's open mile at 6.25pm, which has a strong contingent of Bendigo runners including scratch marker Harrison Boyd, Logan Tickell, Avery McDermid and Glen McMillan.

All tickets for the Bendigo International Madison carnival are for the first time being pre-sold online.

Information and ticket sales at www.bendigomadison.com.au

Saturday's action begins at 1pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Men - Team 1: Connor Leahy, Graeme Frislie. Team 2: Bailey O'Donnell, James Gardner. Team 3: Blake Agnoletto, Ollie Bleddyn. Team 4: Dalton Stretton, Curtis Harrison. Team 5: Logan Taplin, Josh Clarke. Team 6: no team. Team 7: Dylan Eather, Kai Goltman. Team 8: Kurt Eather, James Moriarty Team 9: Will Mathwin, Kalan Tucker. Team 10: Angus Miller, Jack Dohler. Team 11: Will Holmes, Zac Marriage. Team 12: Stephen Hall, John Carter. Team 13: Moritz Augenstein, Moritz Malcharek. Team 14: Sam Washington, Oscar Gallagher.

Women - Team 1: Keely Bennett, Haylee Fuller. Team 2: Ali Anderson, Isla Carr. Team 3: Chloe Moran, Keira Will. Team 4: Milana Freer, Alana Hribar. Team 5: Haylee Jack, Mackenzie Milne. Team 6: Georgia Simpson, Prudence Flower. Team 7: Sally Carter, Sophie Edwards. Team 8: No team Team 9: Amelia Mulhern, TBC. Team 10: Lilyth Jones, Belinda Bailey.