Lara Batkin is just 11 years old and enjoys all the activities of a lively Year 6 student but there is one sport that she does rather well and last weekend she proved it after returning from the NSW junior track cycle state titles holding a clutch of medals.

Track cycling takes place in a velodrome using bikes with no gears and no brakes and a fixed wheel.

Last weekend at Dubbo, Lara took gold in the U13 time trials when she raced on her own and only against the clock.

She then went on to take gold again in the sprint derby where two cyclists race against each other in heats to produce a final of four cyclists.

In the scratch race, Lara took on the 12 other girls in her age group to get the bronze medal. The event consisted everyone starting together in a race of six laps.

Lara explained that it is a very tactical sport especially in the sprint races where it is important not to get boxed in otherwise it means extra distance to cover to get around the bunch of riders.

"I was fairly confident in the time trial because that is my best event but on the sprint I had to plan what to do and now I'm getting older its good to plan the tactics," Lara explained.

She started cycling about four years ago after watching her brother, Evan, who races in the U17s.

"When I saw the younger girls I said that I wanted to start cycling too," Lara said.

With no local club, Lara does most of her training on a road bike in between trips to the St George Cycling Club, Sydney where coach, Jim Beer, has been a big help to her.

Her three medals from Dubbo meant that she was crowned U13s NSW track cycle state champion but with no national titles in this age group, Lara has to be content with a state title but only for the time being.

Next year she moves into the U15 age group where there are state and national titles and will be competing in the velodrome at Bass Hill, in Sydney's Olympic Village.