ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Monday 3rd April, 2017

Hello Vets,

Hope to see as many of you as possible at tonight’s AGM. In this week’s Bleat;

• Photo Comp – ENTRIES CLOSE 7:15PM TONIGHT
• From the desk of the handicapper
• Marshal scheduling for Winter season
• Canberra to Bombala Rail Trail
• AVCC National Champions
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports

Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton

Photo Comp – ENTRIES CLOSE 7:15PM TONIGHT

We’re looking to brighten up the web site with some photo’s, as such I’m announcing the first ACT Vets photo comp! FOR THOSE WISHING TO BE IN CONTENTION, ENTIRES TO BE UPLOADED BEFORE THE AGM TONIGHT.

The winners will have their photo’s used on the new Vets web site. Winners will be announced at the AGM, Monday 3rd April 2017.

Rules:
– Members photos may be used by the club for promotional purposes. Please contact me if you do not want a photograph of you to be used. When you’re photographing members, consider giving them a heads up at the start of the race.
– Photos must be posted to the club’s Facebook site(https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/). Please be aware that the user agreement with Facebook requires you to grant the rights to the photo to Facebook.
– feel free to use effects such as blurring to add extra impact.
– use your best 5 photos if you have that many – but don’t go overboard.
– extra consideration given to photographing the clubs lesser known activities (i.e. road, marshaling, admin and track)!
– the most likes won’t necessarily win… but they will be considered!

We’re not looking for the worlds best photos, just shots that promote the club in the best light.

Dougal Torrance
President
ACT Veterans Cycling Club.
president@actvets.cc

From the desk of the handicapper

All the way from the foot of Mt Maunganui, NZ, that Handicapper has cast his discerning gaze across the Tasman Sea.

This week’s changes;
– Brian Holloway D to C

Marshal scheduling for Winter season

Members, in the past we’ve relied upon the process of calling for members to volunteer as marshal’s for races. This has proven difficult to manage for the race committee in ensuring we have sufficient marshals especially for our road races and more often than not the task of marshaling has been covered by just a few individuals. Marshals are critical to the survival of our racing schedule as we simply cannot conduct races safely without them.

Therefore for the 2017 winter season we are reverting to the scheduling of marshals for races. This is based on your participation in the 2016/2017 Summer season. The good news is that you only have to cover 1 race each for the entire calendar year.

We will be sending out the schedule several races in advance which means you should be well aware of when you have been scheduled and if the need arises for you to seek a replacement if you cannot cover your scheduled race. And please don’t leave it to the last minute to try and find a replacement.

Please note the following schedule for the first part of the season (with recent ammendments):

Regards
Race Committee

Canberra to Bombala Rail Trail

Andrew Carter is actively involved in the proposal to convert the old disused railway corridor from Canberra to Bombala to a Rail Trail. He is trying to get signatures on a petition to the local NSW member to promote the idea (see below). If you felt so inclined it would be great if you could sign the petition. The petition can be found on the Monaro Rail Trail web site, see link below. Click on Support Us then Online Petition.

http://www.monarorailtrail.com.au/

Lindsay Graham

AVCC National Champions

Just to remind everyone that the 2017 Australian Veteran Cycling Council National Championships will be held in Maryborough, Victoria over the Easter weekend, from 15th to 17th April under the auspices of the Victorian Veteran Cycling Council. The championship events include criteriums, road races and the Mockridge Cup 25km time trial. Nominations close at midnight Saturday 8th April.

For registration and course details see the AVCC webpage at: http://www.ausvetcycling.com

RACING THIS WEEK:

The 2016/17 Summer Season has concluded. There will be a break before the start of the Winter Season. The next Race will be;

• Saturday 22nd April, Lookout Hill

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo – 28th March

A Grade

A grade had the most wind to contend with, and it was a direct headwind when going up the main straight. You would have thought that there would have been somewhere to hide in the bunch, but this was not the case as attacks from the likes of Ben Morrison meant that eventually the elastic broke, leaving an elite selection of Ben, Nick Stewart, Mark Harris, Paul Connor and Marc Vroomans. Ben once again showed why he’s been so dominant this season with a powerful display of sprinting to easily defeat Paul and Nick.

C Grade

The race director’s instructions for C grade were to make the most of the last race of the season, and in particular for Ian Preston not to sit on the front and then be thrashed by the beefcakes in the last lap. It just happens that Onya Bike team management had provided the same instruction to Ian prior to the race. Acordingly C grade dawdled along with Ian patiently sitting in. Then with a few laps remaining Ian attacked and didn’t look back. Although the bunch picked up the pace in the last lap it wasn’t enough to catch a fast finishing Ian, who recorded his maiden C grade victory, and at last provided something for his most loyal fan to cheer about! John Thorn was the best of the rest followed by Brian Chugg.

[Ed: Apologies, there is no report for the remaining grades]

TRACK RACING SEASON 2016-17

The 2016-17 Track Racing Season concluded on Wednesday 29 March with a final, combined Italian Pursuit, trophy presentation and small celebration to mark the end of an excellent racing season. ACTVCC President, Dougal Torrance attended the final session to thank the participants and hand out trophies. Dougal has recently developed a taste for track riding and should be a regular trackie next year.

The 2016-17 track season saw 37 riders participating in one or more track sessions. Overall, the attendance was similar to last year. The enjoyment level was as high as ever. This season started well with good attendance and some of the missing veterans from Queanbeyan Park days, finally giving the Bundadome a go. The high-banked, Bundadome track is more challenging and enjoyable than Queanbeyan Park and the track facilities are much better.

The track season was injury free. We had a few close shaves with novice riders. However, everyone learned from the mistakes made and better rider protocols were put in place, immediately. The standard of riding was high and most of the regular riders improved considerably over the season. The most improved rider was Alec Millett, who commenced the last track season in B grade and progressed to be the front runner in A grade, this season. Alec unfortunately had a fall when racing external events, just prior to intended competition in State titles. Hopefully, the consequent injury is just a temporary setback.

As usual, we had a core of regular riders who turned up week in, week out. For example, Ross Scutts competed in every track session and Phil Anderson missed only a single session due to work commitments. There were around 20 other riders who raced consistently.

There were 20 track sessions with around 75 races over the track season. The season provided a variety of race formats including scratch races, handicaps, pursuits, match races, sprints and time trials. All of the races contributed to an overall Track Championship. For the third year in a row, the gold medal for this championship was won by Michael Langdon. Michael started and finished the season in great form and impressed everyone with his spirited riding, ability and all round good humour. The silver and bronze medals for the track championship were won by Ross Scutts and Phil Anderson respectively. Both riders were deserving medal winners and real stalwarts in B grade.

The Track season included a Christmas Wheel Race with the trophy taken by Ben Robey. Towards the end of the season, we ran a four-event Omnium Championship that was won, jointly, by Michael Langdon and Ben Robey.

This summary would not be complete without acknowledging all the parties who contributed to a great track season. This includes the club committee who book the venue, support the track racing discipline and publish results, the first aiders from Sports Medicine, all those who assisted in myriad ways over the season and, finally, the riders who invariably displayed the best competitive spirit and camaraderie.

Final Track Championship Point Scores:
Michael Langdon (332), Ross Scutts (295), Phil Anderson (290) Steve Jones (260), Tony Beasley (258) Alec Millett (220), John Paul De Sousa (203).

Final Omnium Championship Scores:
Ben Robey (14), Michael Langdon (14), Steve Dean (13), Ross Scutts (12), John-Paul De Sousa (11), Andrew Peel (10), Dougal Torrance, Tony Beasley, John Lowe (8).

Graeme O’Neill

Uriarra Homestead – 1st April

An absolutely glorious day weather wise with a light breeze blowing in the from north greeted 42 riders for an out and back course at Uriarra.

A Grade

The A graders decided to make an appearance this week. Maybe Lookout Hill the week previous didn’t suit their style? Starting towards Blue Range spur they wasted no time covering the first half of the course in 14 minutes. As they came past us halfway into lap 1 they had whittled down the lead bunch to 4 riders. Coming past the finish line to complete lap 1, I noticed an attack as they headed up the small hill past the finish line. This was evident as they came past a 2nd time heading towards Uriarra for the last time with Marc Vroomans and Peter Marshall holding a short lead to the chase group of Christophe and Paul Welsh. Coming into the sprint, Marc Vroomans cranked it up from just before the intersection to just pip Peter Marshall on the line. 3rd place went to Christophe Barbaret.

B Grade

5 at the start line and they stayed together for most of the racing with only 1 dropping off the back after the pace picked up slightly. From my calculations they completed the 1st lap slightly faster than A grade. Heading towards the last turn of Uriarra it looked all even and was anyone’s race. Once again it came down to a sprint finish with Michael Foulds edging out David Dickson with Peter Young just behind in 3rd.

C Grade

A big field of 12 riders in C which I combined with the 3 x D graders to make a group of 15. Coming past the judges for the first lap they were mostly all together with the D graders also sitting pretty in the pack. But as the race wore on it was newcomer Jarrod Cook who amped it up with a strong 2nd lap to split the field and rode strongly to record a 23 sec win ahead of a sprint group where Chris Nolan took 2nd just ahead of Warwick Wilson. However there were 5 other riders all within 10 seconds coming across the line so the riding up the last straight must have been a great contest.

D Grade

The D graders did a sterling job to mix in with C grade for most of the race. They tailed off once C grade picked up the pace but also found the odd C grader to team up with to keep the pace high over the 2nd lap. Once again it would take a colossal effort to overcome Bryan Holloway and only Des Brown could put him to the test over the latter stages of the race. However Bryan got the better of Des on the crucial final uphill leg to take the win 11secs ahead of Des with Daniel Grillo coming in 3rd.

E Grade

Another good field of 11 riders. But the heat was on from the get go with only 7 riders in the lead pack going towards Uriarra for the 1st leg. Coming into the 2nd half of the race it got narrowed down to just 4 riders with several dropping off. It was once again anyone’s race as they came past us with only the Uriarra leg to race. Another sprint finish with Jannette Koehler edging out Alex Sommariva and Tony Sheehan.

F Grade

4 riders began with Ian Morton and Howard Moffat quickly establishing a good lead. Unknown to us, Ian had a greater plan in store today and had calculated how many points he needed to take the season point score overall on the last race of the Summer season. He took line honors just ahead of Howard Moffat who stuck with Ian the whole way with Graham Hendrie taking 3rd place.

G Grade

Halfway through this race I would have had my money on Bernie to streak away for the win as he had established a small break on Bruce Jones. However on the last turn leg, Bruce had caught Bernie and was tracking his wheel coming into view for the final sprint. On the line, there was nothing to split them. They sure make us on the line work hard to judge who is the winner and the jugding from the tea and coffee section had scored Bernie the winner by the thread of a tyre ahead of Bruce.

A BIG thank you to the following:
Ian Albery for manning the turn point up on the Blue Range spur
Chris Short for ensuring everyone turned safely at the top of Uriarra Crossing
Owain Tilley for the complicated and often dangerous Uriarra homestead intersection. The police are paying a visit to one driver who is well known to a few of us who thought it would be a good idea to ignore Owain, give him a mouthful and perform a U-turn in front of some riders.
Simon Whitehead for the sports med duties, time keeping and keeping me company on the finish line.

Ben Davis
Race Referee