Masters, In this week’s Bleat
- From the desk of the President
- Next Crit Race – summer evening criterium series week 24 – Tuesday 2 April 5.50 PM
- Crit week 23 report 26 March – Allan Bontjer
- Track Racing Report for 2023/24 season – Graeme O’Neill
- Handicapper’s musings
- Membership message
- Race calendar can be found here for other race dates needing officials
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
As I write this column while cycling the ‘streets of San Francisco’ I am reflecting on the last race of the criterium season that many of you will enjoy on Tuesday. What a wonderful season.
We held 29 crit races, 1 downtube shifter derby, 2 championships evenings, and had over 1,987 riders compete. Our peak attendance was in mid-November with 111 riders; that’s a lot of VO2 max sessions!
It’s now time to reflect on the many volunteers who helped make this crit season so successful. There is one in particular who deserves recognition.
Ian Hutchings as a Club official, has been opening up the roller doors at SFP on almost every occasion since October. He’s spent many hours stalking his prey and honing his craft in making all of you look like GCN models. Even the kangaroos know him by name. Last week during the penultimate crit, I was able catch Ian to gift him on behalf of the Club, a gift certificate and a chocolate Easter bunny. If you are racing this Tuesday, please extend a thank you to Ian for his commitment this season.
MESSAGE FROM THE BLEAT
An updated Bleat from 1 April 2024 as I had omitted the President’s report (which he sent lat week).
Trust members had an enjoyable break over the Easter long weekend with riding, chocolate and the Tour of Flanders. The final criterium of the summer evening series is this Tuesday so get your last fix of racing around Stromlo Forest Park in summer kit for half a year.
Apologies to club stalwart Allan Bontjer for misspelling his name in last week’s Bleat.
Thank you to Graeme O’Neill for his weekly reports during the track season over the 2023/24 season.
Ed
UPCOMING RACING
Summer evening criterium series week 24 – Tuesday 2 April
Race director Rainer Wilton, marshal Paul Scherl, first aid Simon Whitehead
| Grades | Time | Race Duration |
| A/C | 5:50 | 20mins + 2 laps |
| B/D | 6:15 | 20mins + 2 laps |
| E/F/G | 6:40 | 20mins + 2 laps |
Race registration cut-off is 3:50pm. Cost is $10.
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 being allowed to participate.
The forecast is for no rain from 1400ish, a maximum of 22 degrees with northwesterly winds 20 to 28 kmh in the late afternoon.
Our next road race will be at Sutton Driving Training Centre on Saturday, 13 April from 1330 AEST.
Riders will race in their road grades. Anti-clockwise direction.
1330 A/B 50 mins plus 1 lap
1430 C/D 40 mins plus 1 lap
1520 E/F/G 30 mins plus 1 lap
WE REQUIRE A RACE DIRECTOR AND A VAN DRIVER for the graded scratch race at Apollo Road on Saturday 27 April 2024. Please contact race.committee@crmcc.org.au if you can help the club.
RACING REPORTS
Stromlo Forest Park crit Tuesday 26 March
Cool conditions, but humid with a little wind.
Race times were down to 20+2 minutes this week with the impending end of daylight savings.
Race numbers were down despite perfect conditions for racing.
A grade started off with a strong attack and the hard pace continued for most of the race. This resulted in a solo breakaway late on, but three came back together to contest the sprint with James Thorp ahead of Stuart Griffiths and Jason Irwin.
B grade started with a ferocious pace, you really needed to be ready and warmed up to stay on beyond the first two laps. In the end the race settled down. The Co-Op was not that cooperative with team
tactics, chasing down their own teammates. It made for an interesting race. In the end it was a tight sprint with John Brotherton pipping Todd Sowter and Paul Connor.
C grade did not have the massive attacks, although Mick Handbury spent a few laps off the front with no mates. He also contested a close sprint at the end but Warwick Wilson and Simon Porombka finished ahead of Mick.
A small D grade contested this race with not too many attacks, where there was a sprint to finalise the places. Ian Morton ahead of Dale Dummett and David Gunther.
EFG rode together. Rico Fitch tried very hard to dispatch his major competitors, but could not shake Charles Black. Charles won the sprint ahead of Mick Donaldson and Rico.
Lindsay did well to stay with E grade to win F ahead of Paul Robey and Gai Monahan won G. I missed her achievement of passing a F grader last week. Congratulations Gai!
Thanks to Ian Hutchings for all the pre race setup. Thanks to Claire Aubrey for the results, roll call and roo wrangling. Thanks to Simon Whitehead for first aid
Race director
Allan Bontjer
Results for the criterium at SFP on 26 March 2024 here https://rms.crmcc.org.au/index
Links to photos, courtesy of Ian Hutchings, from last week’s criterium here https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/posts/2114851235551927/, https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/posts/2114853855551665 , https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/posts/2114855765551474/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/posts/2114858558884528 .
TRACK RACING SEASON 2023-24
The 2023-24 Track Racing season concluded on Thursday 28 March with a team race, trophy presentation and drinks to celebrate another successful season. The season was blessed with mostly good weather, with only three race session disrupted by rain.
A total of 26 riders participated in one or more of the track racing sessions. Since the transfer of the track program to the Bundadome venue in 2014, a total of 86 riders from the club have participated in track racing. This season’s attendance was down on last year, with around 8 – 12 riders being the norm. This continues a decline over the past few years and seems to be characteristic of masters cycling, at present. However, there was a keen, core group of trackies who kept the enjoyment level as high as ever.
There were 18 evening track sessions with around 70 races over the season. The season provided a variety of race formats including scratch races, handicaps, pursuits, match races, points races, sprints and time trials. All races contributed points to an overall Track Championship. This year the club president, Conan Liu, took out the Track Championship. Conan is a most deserving winner as he attended every track session and was irrepressible in races. Conan seems to have caught the track bug. Although he is not a seasoned track rider, he continues to improve each season. John Paul De Sousa only missed two track sessions this year and was Conan’s chief rival in the season points score. John Paul was second in the Track Championship. It was a close call between Conan and John Paul right up until the last few track sessions when Conan pulled ahead. Third place in the Track Championship went to Hamish Anderson. Hamish had a great season with a swag of race wins. He generally set the benchmark in the short, timed sprints.
The track season was almost injury free. John Paul De Sousa had a slow speed fall in a warm-up and escaped with minor abrasions. Ed Garnett was very unlucky. He dived into the grass infield when his bike entered the death wobbles in a banked turn. The subsequent fall should have been a minor accident. However, Ed’s bike had other ideas. It bounced up and struck him solidly in the neck, resulting in two cracked vertebra and six weeks in a neck brace. Even with the recent two accidents, track racing still averages only one (mostly minor) accident per year. Despite the speed, close quarters racing and lack of brakes, track racing is consistently the safest race discipline offered by the club.
The standard of riding was high and most of the regular riders improved considerably over the season. As usual, it was difficult to select the most improved rider. Alison Hale was a consistent winner and Sarah Stephens, Hamish Anderson and Phil Coulton all had great seasons. However, the trophy for most improved rider went to Warwick Wilson. Warwick had an interrupted season but each time he resumed he quickly stepped up his form to be a serious competitor in A grade. This is no easy task.
The track season included a handicap Wheel Race just prior to Christmas, with the trophy taken by John Paul De Sousa. Towards the end of the season, we ran a four-event Omnium Championship. The results for this event are decided by “the algorithm” which attempts to equalise the chances of all track participants, regardless of grading. This year Conan Liu took out the Omnium Championship by one point over Hamish Anderson. This capped off very successful seasons for both Conan and Hamish.
23-24 Track Medals
(Several trophy winners missed the presentation, so we had to improvise this photo)
On the left, Hamish Anderson holds the Track Championship Trophy won by Conan Liu, Hamish was bronze medal winner in this competition. Next is Graeme O’Neill holding the Omnium Trophy and medal, also won by Conan Liu. Second on the right is John Paul De Sousa, Xmas Wheel Race winner and silver medallist in the Track Championship. Right is Steve Jones holding the most improved rider trophy and medal awarded to Warwick Wilson.
This summary would not be complete without acknowledging and thanking all the parties who contributed to the track season. Members of the club committee including Phil Coulton, Conan Liu, Kim Malcolm, Ian Morton, David Parker and Ed Logue provided great support by booking and paying for the venue, setting up the rider payment system, preparing medals and publishing results in The Bleat. Simon Whitehead and Paul Robey kept the racing viable with sports medicine support. Finally, the riding group assisted in myriad ways over the season and, as importantly, were a very agreeable and fun group to be around.
Graeme O’Neill
Track Commissaire
Track Season Results
Xmax Handicap (1st – 5th)
John Paul De Sousa, Conan Liu, Martin Graham, Hamish Anderson, Alison Hale.
Omnium Championship Scores:
Conan Liu (16), Hamish Anderson (15), Ben Davis (14), Graeme O’Neill (11), John Paul De Sousa, (10), Phil Coulton (10), Warwick Wilson (9), Steve Jones (8), Alison Hale (8), Kerry Knowler (7), Sarah Stephens (5), Gavin Stephens (4).
Track Championship Point Scores:
Conan Liu (339), John Paul De Sousa (318), Hamish Anderson (234), Graeme O’Neill (224), Alison Hale (208), Sarah Stephens (189), Craig Kentwell (171), Warwick Wilson (160), Phil Coulton (158), Steve Jones (144), Kerry Knowler (122), Ben Davis (119), Martin Graham (86), Wayne Benham (73), Ed Garnett (70).
Most Improved Rider
Warwick Wilson
Graeme O’Neill
HANDICAPPER’S MUSINGS
An apology.
At least two people read my blurb last week about events completed by active members and pointed out a glaring omission. I must apologise to the club van manager Chris Nolan, who has completed 584 events. Chris started as a C grader in 2002, was a regular A crit/B road ride about a decade ago. He completed primary in road races early on but now is Stromlo B grade regular.
Handicaps upgrades:
Krusty Bryant B to A
Charles Black E to D.
Rob Langridge
Handicapper
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
