• Bilbys Memorial Ride
  • Crit Season 2026/27
  • Track Season 2026/27
  • Club Kit order update
  • Race Report – Iron Mike
  • Next Race – Club Champs Road Race
  • Upcoming races requiring volunteers – race calendar can be found here

Bilbys Memorial Ride

We acknowledge that we are late to recognise the profound impact that the tragic loss of Bridie Lee and Ryan Riethmuller has had on the cycling community, and we offer our sincere apologies. We stand alongside other clubs in offering our deepest sympathies and condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy. Furthermore, we join our fellow clubs in a shared commitment to ongoing support for improving rider safety and wellbeing on our roads. We were proud to see many of our members attend the memorial ride on Saturday, 12th September. It was a deeply moving tribute to the memory of two exceptional individuals and a powerful reflection of the community spirit within Canberra cycling.

Crit Season 2026/27

With the Criterium Season almost upon us it has been timely for the Committee to review several aspects of the club’s financial operations including the Criterium Season race entry fee, criterium season pass, and the volunteer credits. 

The committee has done this review noting that we are in a reasonably sound financial position, however we want to ensure the club can confidently operate with a financial buffer that can accommodate any financial risks that may come to fruition, as well as invest in infrastructure and operational improvements that can add value to member’s experience.

The changes below come at a time where we’re seeing increased costs to the club, including venue, first aid, and the investment in training to help with self sufficiency for the club.

Criterium Entry

This will be the third season where the season pass will be offered, with take up in previous years being quite strong. The strength of take up, along with the significant discount to a full season’s potential fees, has contributed to diluting the club’s revenue, necessitating the following changes.

The 2026/27 season pricing structure will be as follows:

  • Single race entry – $12 per race
  • Season Criterium Pass covering all standard Stromlo Criteriums – $156

These rates continue to represent very good value for money with 25 races planned for the season.

Volunteer Credits

The club’s ongoing success continues to rely on volunteers – without volunteers we can’t organise or run races.

By way of background, the club has used a financial incentive for members who volunteer for a number of years.  The previous process was to offer a honorarium, which was generally not taken up by all volunteers, and therefore did not create a significant financial burden on the club. 

Last year the club switched from offering the honorarium for volunteers to a race credits system which was automatically applied to members to use against any upcoming race entry fees.  The system provided a token reward for the volunteer’s time in helping run races.  In the first year operating the cost of this system has impacted the running costs of the club by more 50% more than the previous honorarium system ($2,000 in 2025 to $3,100 in 2026).  This is largely due to a concentration of members volunteering who then are able to offset their race fees through credits.  The key statistic on this issue is that only 60% of members who raced in the last 12 months have volunteered in that time.

The club will continue the race credits for the foreseeable future, however the amount per role will be adjusted. 1 credit will equal one standard race entry.

  • For open road races, Race Directors, ETCs and van drivers will receive 4 credits each, and marshals 1 credit.
  • For closed circuit races at SDTC, SFP, or Dairy Flat Road, Race Directors will receive 2 credits, van drivers (where required) will receive 4 credits, and marshals 1 credit.

Clubs like ours cannot operate successfully without the help of volunteers, and we encourage all members to meet the minimum volunteer commitment of 1 race per year to maintain your membership status in good standing. We are not unique in the challenges of getting volunteers in our sport, but as a committee we hope that the spirit of volunteerism can help the club thrive into the future.

Track Season 2026/27

Track racing will be back at the Narrabundah Velodrome on Thursday evenings for the 2026/27 season. We are working on getting the Track season dates up in the RMS to allow entries. Thanks for your patience while we sort this out.

Club Kit order update

Jimmy from MVMNT has advised us that our order has been delayed due to the manufacturer relocating their factory during the month of August. Production of the order is now due to be completed mid-September, with delivery expected soon after that. Thanks for your patience. The kit will definitely be worth the wait!

Race Report – Iron Mike Handicap

Saturday was a perfect spring day for the Iron Mike – a handicap race covering fifty kilometers of Brindabella’s best bitumen in memory of Milos ‘Mike’ Paral, one of the original Old Boys.

Alex Sommariva started proceedings as the sole E grade rider. He rode a strong ITT until he was caught by the faster bunches around Uriarra Homestead. He kept the pedals turning to roll in 22nd place.

D grade had a quartet of riders who rode solidly. They made great time down to Uriarra Crossing, and up Brindabella Road, but gravity started to bite as they were swept up by the higher grades on their way to Condor Creek. The broken up D grade rolled to the finish line in singles, with John Paul De Sousa in 24th the fastest from his grade.

C grade had the biggest group of the day, but it seems they shed riders on the road early on and didn’t have the numbers to motor up to Condor Creek. Ed Logue gave the following on-road report from the bunch: “There was a good group of us to the Crossing. From there we rode together, then slowly but surely we lost one, and another… then three from B grade caught us at Uriarra Homestead on the way out”. “The spirit then seemed to be gone in the group, so the pace went off a bit”. “A grade caught us just near Blue Range Road”. “We got to Condor Creek with myself [Ed Logue], Ian Preston, Brendan Kelly… and rode back to the Crossing with others from B grade”. Ed Logue was the first C grade rider across the line in 12th.

We welcomed two new riders in C grade who got a tough introduction to CRMCC road racing – Dean Chidgey and Matthew Lam. Dean said: “It was a great ride today, obviously pretty strong there in C grade, and the B graders just went past us like we were standing still. A tough race to do my first one. It was heaps of fun”. Matthew, who spent a bit more time on course noted: “It was very enjoyable, and a good bunch of guys, but the group got away from me about 8-9Ks in. So I was racing my own race at that point. But very fun – I’d definitely do it again”!

B grade also started with a large bunch. According to Geoff Hinchcliffe: “Jorge put the pedals down coming out of Uriarra, and then there was a group of four of us – Matt and Jorge doing all the work and me [Geoff] struggling to hang on and Christophe…who then snapped”. “As we were coming down we saw A grade, and they were looking pretty fresh. They were all together and had us in their sights”. “They caught us just before the flat. A grade took off, and we just tore ourselves inside out to get on. We proceeded as a group to the Sisters, then the big boys came out to play, going up the sisters…”. Matt Benedetti was the best of B rolling in fifth place, with Geoff Hinchcliffe close behind in sixth and Jorge Robinson in seventh.

A grade started with five riders who absolutely pinned it in their TTT, riding as a tight group rapidly rolling turns the entire race – except for Matt McAuliffe who DNFed with a flat in the first section to Uriarra. Tristan Dimmock reported from the A grade bunch: “We did 30-45 second turns each, pretty hard, everyone was pulling their weight”. “We just rolled really hard from Uriarra all the way to the end at the dirt, and pretty much caught everybody by the dirt”. “We had three riders from lower grades stick with us until the bottom of the Three Sisters, then the four A grade riders rode away. There were a couple of attacks during the Three Sisters, especially the second Sister was pretty nuclear. Then between the top of the Sisters and the finish there were a few attacks, but came down to a sprint”. Into the finishing straight all four A graders were together moving uphill at an unnaturally rapid pace. Tristan Dimmock narrowly took the win with Anthony Murfett a close second. Dan Lekhac got third in an equally close sprint against Jason Irwin.

Thanks to all of the team who helped put on the Iron Mike: the ETCs put in a huge effort covering such a long race course: Darren Blackhurst, Alison Hale, Jonathan Chowns, and Robert Langridge; Michael and Ryan Fawke also helped with signage and follow car; Owain Tilley for van driving; Matthew Sainsbery on first aid and timing; Mick Hanbury as Marshal and timing guru; and, Ian Hutchings for his awesome photos.

Finally, apologies we had a couple of mix ups with the handicaps and start times. I hope it didn’t ruin anyone’s day – seems like everyone still had a fun race and was smiling at the finish line!

Craig Lindenmayer (race director)

Photos thanks to Ian Hutchings

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19d2HjpQNq

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19VN3N4eKT

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JoAD5nA5T


Next Race – Club Champs Road Race

We had visions of mixing up the Road Champs course this year and taking on Ed’s suggestion of utilising Condor Creek. However, we were unable to organise approvals in time. For this reason, we are running the Uriarra Homestead short course this weekend. We will not be utilising the traditional Mt McDonald leg to reduce volunteer burden.

Course details: Uriarra Homestead – Uphill to Short turn before the climb – downhill to the top of Uriarra Crossing – back up to Homestead. All age groups do 3 laps for 45km.

Cost is $10. Here is the link to register – https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar?5030584
Registration cut-off is 9:30AM Saturday


Upcoming races needing volunteers

Please self-register as a volunteer, where you can put your name down against those roles marked ‘Vacant’ in this Google spreadsheet. We will follow-up and confirm your volunteering with an email from committee@crmcc.org.au
Thank you to those members who have offered their services to fill roles so our races can run. https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar

CRMCC Committee

President – David Parker

Vice President – Dave Buckley

Secretary – Michael Fawke

Treasurer – Mark Vardy

Handicapper – Rob Langridge

E-mail committee@crmcc.org.au