Masters, In this week’s Bleat;
- Race Reports – Lookout Hill – Time Trial & Stromlo Criteriums
- Next Race – Sutton Super Series – Sat 1 July
- Racing Calendar changes
- Race Officials – needed
“It’s tough. There’s a lot of rhythm change. The weather, the wind, will have a huge impact.” Michael Rogers (UCI elite men’s time trial 2010)
Race Report – Lookout Hill – Time Trial – 24 June
18 hardy individuals gathered at Lookout Hill for a windy ITT on the challenging 20km graded ITT consisting of two laps of the fast Lookout Hill – Tharwa – Point Hut course. The sun was shining however temperatures were cool and there was a strong, gusty southerly wind to test the riders. The A grade rides were off first at 30 second intervals and the sound of carbon disk wheels were soon lost in the strong tail/ cross wind to the first turn. With all riders on the course it was clear that there was going to be some fast times, not even the short sharp rise to Lookout Hill slowed some of the riders. Ed and John were kept busy on the turns not only with riders but some motorists who were short on patience and driving skill. There were as many impressive rides as there were slick TT machines on the course including David Parker’s new yellow ride. Steve Crispin, the reigning National M5 Masters Champion, clocked the fastest time of 27 mins 15 sec with an average speed of just of 44km/h. Tristan Fuge led B Grade with 30mins 24 seconds. Chris van de Skek put in an impressive ride as a visitor. C grade was close run with the top 3 all within 30 seconds of each other, Owain Tilley coming home fastest in 32 mins, 05 sec. Anthony Beasley put in an impressive ride of 34 mins 32 secs to win D grade with Shirley-Anne Taylor not too far behind on her first ITT. Ashley Sked and Chris Copeland both rode well to take out E and F grades respectively.
Thank you to Ed Logue and John Bridge to their ETC work on the turns, Ross Heazlewood and Alex Sommariva for marshalling and Simon Whitehead on First Aid Duties.
Damian Copeland – Race Director
Stromlo Criteriums – 25 June
The morning wind of 33km/hr with wind gusts of up to 46km/hr dissipated for the start of A and C grade race. Whilst still cold and windy it was blue skies all around of which the Director, Marshall and First Aider were grateful for.
A grade rolled off first and it wasn’t long before three riders with the likes of Crispin, Smyth and Irwin wound it up splitting the group into two leaving Goggin, Vroomans and Parker to work together. An unlikely drop of Krusty saw him ride by himself and eventually calling it a day leaving the remaining 6 to bring it home. With Crispin and Smyth putting the screws down in the last 20 minutes, Irwin unfortunately had to fall back to the chasing group leaving Crispin coming home with the gold ahead of Smyth.
C grade rolled off not long after A grade in what seemed a relaxed but focused pace. However that quickly turned abruptly with Rosie, Matthew and Stuart pushing from the front and trying to splinter the group leaving some to scrabble and form a second group. Rob, Terry and Al rode together trying to keep out of the wind and getting that great work out they came out to do. Heading uphill on the straight into the wind, the main group was passing the group of three but a ‘misunderstanding’ of the passing group saw Matthew Hardy hitting the tarmac hard making our first aider Simon run to assist. Ali (the Marshall) and I tried to direct and keep the remaining riders safe and keep the race alive for them. Unfortunately with the accident saw a number of DNF’s in this grade. The remaining riders soldiered on (big kudos to you all) and it ended up with a good sprint to the line with Bosco edging out a very fast finishing Stuart and Rosie with less than a millimeter between them.
It seemed it was the ‘My Ride’ train that rolled up for the start of the B grade 50 minute race. After words from the Director to be gentlemanly it was clear from the start that 3 of the ‘My Ride’ riders had other ideas and Rickerby, Pooley and McLenaghan rode off the front. It was heard from another group of three (Blackhurst, Lindenmayer and Monck) that they might attempt to draft off the leaving Ambulance – but their pace and with the beady eyes of the Director at their back they seemed to hold back to ensure they didn’t get penalised! With some heckling from other My Ride riders on the side line, at the 35 minute mark, Pooley and McLenaghan were just to strong for the Visiting rider in Rickerby leaving the other two to battle it out. But it seemed as though McLenaghan ate extra weetbix that morning and left Pooley with the rubber band syndrome, unable to fill the gap. McLenaghan maintained his lead with Pooley in second. With such a good win and the handicapper on hand, McLenaghan might find himself with his other My Ride riders in A grade!!.
With only two D graders toeing the line, Ian and Ashley were the epitome of gentlemanly and rode together the whole way, taking turns at the front to block the wind as by now it had become quite blustery, to make it an enjoyable ride for them. Ian edged out Ashley to take the win but both rode really well.
The biggest of thanks to Alison Hale (my wing woman and Marshall) who stood up and worked the timing board and for general support and to Simon Whitehead for attending to Matthew track side ensuring that he got good pre-hospital care. Thanks also to Michael Handbury for helping out at the accident.
Kez Muir – 1st time Race Director
RACING – Next Race
Saturday 1 July, 1.30pm – Sutton Super Series – Points Criteriums
Race Director needed – if you can assist the Club then please email the race.committee@actvets.cc
Format: Sutton Driver Training Course
Description: Racing will be Anti-Clockwise.
13.30 – A/B – 50 mins plus 1 lap
14.30 – C/D – 40 mins plus 1 lap
15.20 – E/F/G – 30 mins plus 1 lap
Racing Calendar changes
Subject to approvals from NSW and ACT governments, the dates have changed for the following events:
| Sunday, October 15 | The 2023 Gunning (aka Peter McLennan Memorial) event. Start/Finish at Bredalbane, using the community hall as race central Consists of a TT event followed by the usual 48km lap – once or twice depending on your grade. The handicapper is considering letting D grade vote on their lap count… The single day approach facilitates (i) the ability to attract potential 2024 members though the use of the single day trial licence, and (ii) reduces event costs hiring NSW traffic controllers. |
| Saturday, July 29 | The M&H TT Age-Standard trophy race Moved from August 12 as several of the regular club TTers noted the clash with the NSW TT AusCycling championship at Bredalbane. |
| Saturday, August 26 | Iron Mike Moved from August 19 as the AusCycling ACT RR championship is being held that morning on the same course. |
FWIW, the dates of the NSW and ACT AusCycling events were not available at the time the Calendar was submitted to the ACT government for approval in 2022.
Upcoming Races – Officials needed
Saturday 8 July 1.30pm – Uriarra Homestead – Race Director, ETC x 2 and Van driver needed
If you can assist the Club then please email the race.committee@actvets.cc
Race calendar can be found here for other race dates needing Officials
