Amelia Trkulja describes Sarah Cliff as one of her closest friends.
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Two junior cyclists from the Illawarra, the pair train together and race with and against each other on a regular basis.
This week, the pair will combine forces to make a bid for a national medal at the Australian Junior Track Cycling Championships at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.
The girls will contest the madison and team sprint at the competition and Trkulja is hopeful they will be able to use their close relationship to gain an edge of their rivals.
"It's so good to be paired up with Sarah," Trkulja said. "It's so exciting, we're really close friends, we train together, know each other's riding style and know our strengths and weaknesses.
"It's great being able to train with Sarah, we definitely push each other to our limits and when we're racing we push really hard."
Trkulja and Cliff will be joined in Brisbane by fellow Illawarra Cycle Club rider Ryan Britten, the trio selected to represent their state after a successful NSW Championships last month.
For Trkulja, it will be her first nationals and she's thrilled to be competing alongside two close friends.
"I'm really excited for this week, I've never been to nationals before. It's my first time going and it's an honour to be selected and go to Brisbane with a whole team of like-minded athletes, it's going to be so much fun.
"Through the Illawarra Academy of Sport, I've had the opportunity to train with other athletes like Ryan and Sarah. They're both really strong, training with them is good for me, they're really good people and we're all really close."
Trkulja's qualification for nationals comes just a year after she took a year off to overcome a back injury. Now that she's back riding and feeling refreshed, she's hoping to enjoy her nationals debut.
"My goals are just to enjoy myself, it should be a really good experience. It would be great if I could get on the podium and come away with medal, but even if don't, I don't mind, I'm going to nationals."
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