Masters, In this week’s Bleat
- From the desk of the President
- Next Crit Race – Summer Series Evening Criterium Tuesday 20 February 5.50 PM
- Narrabundah Track Racing – Thursday 22 February, 5.30 PM
- Next Road Race – Mount Tennent Terror – handicap Sunday 3 March from 09.00 AM
- Crit racing report 13 February – Nathan Spillane
- Track Racing Report 15 February – Graeme O’Neill
- Dairy Road race report 18 February – Damian Copeland
- Membership message
- Race calendar can be found here for other race dates needing officials
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
The highlight of my Masters week was seeing the CRMCC community spirit in full force with around 20 folks (14 members, 2 former members and 4 committee members) show up to the Dairy Flat Road course on Saturday for an high intensity pruning session (the old timers call this the ‘working bee’). With the temperatures nearing 30 deg C at 2pm, this was bound to be a zone 4 workout. The running joke was that there was a bigger turnout of the pruning party than the actual racing numbers! We are taking this so seriously that the handicapper and I are plotting and devising a wood clearing handicap and a pruning championship for next season. Not only were there many hands, but the various contraptions such as diesel generators, telescopic high-angle electric pruners meant that we were able to transform the course in 2 hours. The racers will have noticed the next day how well groomed the course was, and this is partly the reason why the pace was so high. Many of you who raced will have noticed the incessant foot and bike traffic of onlookers (I had plenty of time to notice this as I was off the bike of my bunch a lot!), and we were able to generate interest in at least one of them, and this has given us an idea to put up some recruitment posters next time. Thank you to all involved for making a great race of the fabled Dairy Flat Rd, particularly Rob Langridge for organising the working party, Damian Copeland for directing the race, Gavin Stephens for driving the van, and returning member Paul Connor for monitoring the northern turn point. The next instalment of this race is going to be different (and fun) I am told, so stay tuned for details.
The new committee is settling into their roles. Chris Nolan has stepped up again to look after the van, while Ben Healy has offered to learn the dark art of RMS software development under former member Ian McVay (there is a rumour of a comeback). David Buckley joined the committee at the recent AGM and has since agreed to take on the role of ETC coordination and he will conduct an inventory of our equipment ahead of our road season where we rely on our courses to be set up in advance with signage that conforms to the approved temporary traffic management plan in place. We are still looking for someone to take on Membership officer, with the peak work expected in October (with the new crit season and reduced membership fee), and around mid-December with renewal of membership. Please contact me for a more detailed role description if interested.
Allan Bontjer has been our long suffering IT guy and we have just completed a domain name change from our re-branding from Vets to CRMCC. This affects our email addresses (with the older ones forwarding mail the new ones).
Our contacts are as follows:
Race.committee@crmcc.org.au – everything to do with race registration, payment, volunteering for races, points etc
membership@crmcc.org.au – everything to do with new members, trial members, renewal of membership, general inquiries about membership
TheBleat@crmcc.org.au – contributions for the Bleat on a weekly basis
Kind regards,
Conan president@crmcc.org.au
UPCOMING RACING
Summer Series Evening Criterium Tuesday 20 February
Race director Brian Peak –
We require a marshal for the race to be run so if you can help the club please contact race.committee@crmcc.org.au
| Grade | Time | Race Duration [ sunset @ 7:42 ] |
| E/F/G | 5:50 | 25mins + 2 laps |
| A/C | 6:20 | A 35mins + 2 laps; C 32mins + 2 laps |
| B/D | 7:05 | B 35mins + 2 laps; D 32mins + 2 laps |
Race registration cut-off is 3:50pm.
You need to register by looking up the calendar entry in the RMS https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar
You must wear your CRMCC assigned race number to race. Late registrations will be assessed by Race.committee@crmcc.org.au and if allowed, a late fee of $10 will be applied.
If you are unregistered and show up to the crit track, you must convince a committee member (not the Race Director) of your club member financial status for insurance purposes, before allowed to participate.
NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING – THURSDAY 22 FEBRUARY, 5.30 PM
The Program for Thursday is as follows:
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice.
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 8-lap graded scratch race.
6.20pm – 6.40pm: 1-lap SS time trial (Omnium event 2).
6.40PM – 7.00pm: 4-lap handicap
7.00pm – 7.20pm: Italian pursuit.
Please register and pay $10 for this session by looking up the calendar entry in the RMS
https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar
As we have moved to online registration and payment, we no longer accept cash on the day.
NEXT ROAD RACE AT SMITHS ROAD – NAAS ROAD, MOUNT TENNENT TERROR HANDICAP – SUNDAY, 3 MARCH 09.00 AM
Course is two laps from Smiths Road over Mt Tennent spur to Apollo Road and return for approximately 36km.
We require a race director, one ETC, two marshals and a van driver for the event to be run. Contact race.committee@crmcc.org.au if you can help the club.
RACING REPORTS
STROMLO CRIT RACING REPORT- TUESDAY 13 FEBRUARY
What threatened to be a wet and wild race did not eventuate. What did was a great night of calm, wind free racing for all with 90 riders signing on across the seven grades. There was pre-race excitement when the crowd saw Squadra royalty, Chris Short, making his way down the path however the excitement was thwarted when it was determined he was only there in an official capacity. Maybe another week Chris?
A Grade started with 17 riders and it only took 4 laps to establish the first break of the night with representatives from Tiffen (Matt Rizzuto and Michael Tolhurst) , QUON (Ben Morrison) and Cartel (Steve Crispin). As anticipated these four were working well with remainder of the bunch questioning why they were not up there. A couple of laps of this and Tolhurst decided he didn’t want a bar of it and dropped off. This didn’t spoil the appetite of the other three as they continued to open the gap up. At the midway point of the race, team Tiffen brought all five of their riders to the front and it appeared they had little faith in Rizzo’s ability to stay away. Surely they knew who he was? This showing at the front only led to a further split in the group and before long Stu Griffiths found himself smack bang in the middle of a Tiffen sandwich as group two was established. This was the race done now with the remainder of the riders either calling it quits or riding in smaller groups just to get it done. Much to the disgust of Gerard Tiffen, a coming together of grades up the back straight resulted in him having to sit up and the race director adding a couple of minutes of time. With the top three places established it was going to come down to a sprint finish. From the finish line it looked like Rizzo may have had Moshy’s measure however, it was not to be with the finishing order being Moshy from Rizzo and then Crispy.
C Grade had a strong field of 22 riders which was happy to stay mostly together for the initial part of the race. New rider John Brotherton rode off the front of the group at the point in time where they were being lapped by the A grade field and found himself on the back of that bunch (and appeared to be holding the wheel without any trouble I might add). After a quick mention to him, he correctly dropped off the back and re-integrated himself into the C grade pack. This was turning out to be a well-paced and fast race that was more or less staying together. It stayed all together until near the end where again John rode off the front but this time managed to stay away amongst the confusion of A grade and rode himself into victory. John was followed in by Myles Trew in second and John Stockman in third. A very strong ride indeed by John, I’m sure the handicapper has you in his sights 😊
B Grade was once again the biggest grade of the night. 29 riders started the 38min race with the surprise addition of Team QUON’s Kane Piper despite the not so ginger friendly conditions. 10 minutes in, ONYA’s (or do we say Bicycle CO-Op now) Lewis Cressy threw it up the road, managing to wake the bunch up and cause a reaction. He was away for a good three or so laps before being caught and, as is typical in this scenario, another couple of riders attacked. This time it was ‘said to be teammate’ Bobby Mathieson and independent rider Todd Sowter. They were soon chased by first time CRMCC rider Kim Pedersen and Nathan Rickerby, bringing the group of away riders to four. There was much musing on the sidelines about Team QUON’s lack of presence at the front to bring this threatening quartet back- standard. The four were eventually drawn back in after a long 10 minutes out the front. Around 15 minutes to go Lewy and Ed Meeuwissen thought they would have another go, only to be brought back again with about 10 to go. David Buckley and Bobby Mathieson tried again with 8 to go but it was to no avail and the bunch was all together for the 2 laps to go, a sprint finish was to prevail. The sprint was hotly contested and in the end it was Lewis Cressy from Mick Rose and then Bruce Goodfellow.
D Grade field toed the line with 15 out of its 16 riders, noting the absence of David Johnson who normally sets his watch by Tuesday night crits. From the sideline it appeared the field had determined early that tonight’s race would be one that stayed together. A race reporters dream!! The pace fluctuated up and down throughout the 35min race but no attacks were made until the 3 minutes to go mark where Russell Marston went off the front in an impressive move up the front straight. Russell was however brought back into the fold as the bell rang for the final lap, another sprint finish. This time it was Shirley-Anne Taylor taking the line honours by a comfortable margin from Alison Hale and David Gunther.
E/F/G Grade strong and loyal riders were last off this week in a 28min plus two lap race. Charles Black managed to arrive a little after start time but consensus had been gathered that he would arrive and he could tack on the back when the group came past. The group stayed together through laps one, two and part of three before a group of 5 dropped Robyn Smallwood and proceeded up the road. Another sprint finished came about with E grade’s Rico Fitch taking the win followed by Charles Black and then Chris Copeland. F grade was won by Bob Miller and G grade line honours belonged to Robyn Smallwood.
Thanks to all who turned up to race and those that were there to assist with the running of the event. It is appreciated.
Nathan Spillane
TRACK RACING REPORT- THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY
Thursday 15 February was the sixth track session for 2024. It was a cool evening with a brisk headwind in the back straight. Fortunately, it moderated over the evening. Attendance improved with 11 riders, 5 in A grade and 6 in B grade.
The 8-lap A grade scratch race started with John Paul De Sousa leading out for a lap at an easy pace. Conan Liu upped the pace after rolling to the front on lap 2. The pace held for a lap after which Steve Jones and Kerry Knowler rolled to the front, each incrementing up the pace. Kerry put in an attack on lap 6. However, Conan Liu was alert and slowly closed it down, hauling the pack just behind. On lap 7 Conan and Steve Jones started a surge and looked set for a close tussle. On the final lap Steve accelerated past Conan and established a comfortable gap that he held to the finish. Conan held on for second with John Paul De Sousa a close third.
The 8 lap B grade scratch had 6 starters. Sarah Stephens led out and the pace was on from the start. The first six laps were orderly with riders taking one lap turns on the front and holding a solid pace. The pace surged on lap 7 when Hamish Anderson took off. Alison Hale took up the pursuit, followed by Sarah Stephens and most of the pack. Hamish was very strong over the last lap and took the win over Alison Hale. Sarah Stephens was a close third.
The next scheduled event was a 200 Fly – a 200m flying start sprint. This event was the first event of a four event Omnium Championship. Hamish Anderson is usually the rider to watch in this event. Hamish set a time of 13.20 seconds (56.5 km/hr) which was quite creditable, especially for B grade. However, he was pipped by A grade’s Steve Jones in 13.06s (57.1 km/hr) who set fastest time. All the A grade times were good with a spread of a little over 1 second. Sarah Stephens is also fast at this event and set second best B grade time at 14.05s (53.1 km/hr).
The third programmed event was a 2-lap handicap. With the limited numbers, this race combined A and B grade riders. The handicaps had been further fine-tuned from the last 2-lap handicap event, with just minor adjustments. Graeme O’Neill led out from limit. Alison Hale was first to pass Graeme at around 1.3 laps. Soon some of the fastest riders surged past and closed on Alison. Hamish Anderson was having another good evening and managed to just hold out Conan Liu and Gavin Stephens for the win. Conan and Gavin took second and third place in that order.
The session’s final event was the usual Italian pursuit. The teams had 4 riders. Team 2’s Phil Coulton established an early lead, that the team held for the first half of the race. However, Hamish Anderson, Steve Jones and Conan Liu put in very pacy laps to slowly wrest the advantage from Team 1 and take a comfortable win.
Major place getters were as follows:
8-Lap Scratch: (A grade) Steve Jones, Conan Liu, John Paul De Sousa (B grade) Hamish Anderson, Alison Hale, Sarah Stephens.
200m Fly (Omnium Event 1): (A grade) Steve Jones (13.06s), Conan Liu (13.47s), John Paul De Sousa (13.73s) (B Grade) Hamish Anderson (13.20s), Sarah Stephens (14.05s), Alison Hale (14.73s).
2-lap Handicap: Hamish Anderson, Conan Liu, Gavin Stephens, Sarah Stephens, Alison Hale.
Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 1 (Conan Liu, Steve Jones, Hamish Anderson, Graeme O’Neill).
Omnium Points Score
Steve Jones, Kerry Knowler, Hamish Anderson (5), Conan Liu, Gavin Stephens, Sarah Stephens (4), John Paul De Sousa, Alison Hale (3), Graeme O’Neill (2), Ben Davis (1).
Season Point Score Update:
Conan Liu (249), John Paul De Sousa (245), Alison Hale (173), Graeme O’Neill (169), Hamish Anderson (167), Craig Kentwell (152), Sarah Stephens (150), Steve Jones (113), Kerry Knowler (105), Phil Coulton (93), Martin Graham (86), Warwick Wilson (85), Wayne Benham (73), Ed Garnett (70).
Graeme O’Neill
DAIRY FLAT ROAD RACE REPORT – SUNDAY 18 FEBRUARY
Race results:
A: 1. Stuart Griffiths 2. Matt Rizzuto 3. Steve Crispin
B. 1. Geoff Hinchcliffe 2. Gavin Stephens 3. Equal points: Simon Costello and Darren Blackhurst
C. 1. John Brotherton 2. David Dickson 3. Equal points: Anthony Dick and Steve Simms
D. Alfred Cook 2. Sarah Stephens 3. Shirley-Anne Taylor
F. Gai Monahan
Report – Dairy Road Individual Points Criterium
The Dairy Road criterium track was in perfect condition for racing thanks to the great turnout of volunteers on Saturday afternoon to clear the overhanging trees and sweep the road. Around 15 volunteers with a wide variety of gardening tools and brooms made short work over the overgrown foilage. The track conditions were only outdone by the beautiful weather conditions that met the riders on a crisp, clear albeit warm and increasingly muggy Sunday morning.
A and B grades were first to race for 50 minutes plus one lap, with a sprint every second lap. Unsurprisingly the pace was high in both grades with some early casualties as a result. Gerard Tiffen and Matt Rizzuto were looking ominous in the first few sprints before a dropped chain took GT out of contention. Stuart Griffiths however dominated the sprints taking out the first three sprints and placing in remaining. Andrew Foster tried to break up the group midway through the race and in doing so managed to win some sprint points. In the end, consistency was the name of the game with Stuart Griffiths taking the win ahead of Matt Rizzuto and Steve Crispin.
B grade was dominated by Geoff Hinchcliffe who scooped up most of the sprint points on offer. It wasn’t plain sailing for Geoff with Gavin Stephens, Darren Blackhurst and Simon Costello keeping him under pressure throughout the race. The top 4 found themselves off the front 2/3 of the way into the race and were never caught. A special mention for Ian Preston who showed some good form while competing in his 400th club event.
C and D grades raced next for 40 mins plus one lap. Both grades stayed together for most of the race. In C grade, John Brotherton showed some great form by consistency placing in the sprints. David Dickson was strong, trying to break away from the group with multiple attacks throughout the race. In the end, John Brotherton was comfortably ahead in points from David Dickson in second with Anthony Dick and Steve Simms in equal third.
D grade was a tactical race with the pace fluctuating between lightning speed and conversational. Alfred Cook was consistent in the sprints with Sarah Stephens and Shirley-Anne Taylor pushing him right to the line. Jonathan Chowns also picked up some hand points however in the end Alfred Cook won with Sarah Stephens in second and Shirley-Anne Taylor in third.
With no riders in E Grade, Bernard Crowe and Gai Monahan were left to race in F grade. With the heat and humidity increasing by the minute it was a tough 30mins plus one. In the end, Gai Monahan won the day.
In addition to Saturday’s volunteers, a huge thanks go to Gavin Stephens for driving the van, Paul Connor for marshalling, Paul Robey for first aid and helping out with the marshalling also. The Dairy Road course makes for some great racing (not to mention some serious interval training) and we hope to see more events on the course this year.
All the best
Damian Copeland
Race Director
Membership Message
To renew your financial membership for 2024
Please carefully follow the instructions below to renew your racing membership for 2024 with the Capital Region Masters Cycling Club of the Australian Veteran Cycling Council Inc.
As previously stated, the annual racing licence for 2024 is $140, comprising $120 for the national component, and $20 club component for running races.
• To start the $140 race licence process click here https://amc.helloclub.com/register?membership=657ed9ff637993bde7bcf446. This is for both new and renewing members
• The membership system has moved to Hello Club from SportsTG, and your previous account credentials will NOT work with this system. You will need to create a new membership account, irrespective of how many years you have been a member of the club.
• Do NOT sign in using a previous AVCC account, click CONTINUE.
• Read and agree to the terms and conditions.
• Sign up with email, Google or Facebook. Follow the prompts to enter your contact details and emergency contact details.
• Pay $140 via credit card.
• If successful, you will receive an email from ‘Australian Veteran Cycling Council reply+australian-veteran-cycling-council@helloclub.com’ to inform you that your registration has been completed.
• Contact membership@crmcc.org.au if you have questions or if you encounter any issues.
Conan
CRMCC Club Membership Officer
The Bleat
If you would like to contribute to the Club and put the Bleat together each week, please contact us!
