Masters, In this week’s Bleat
- Next Crit Race – Summer Series Evening Criterium Tuesday 09 January 5.50 PM
- NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING – THURSDAY 11 JANUARY, 5.30 PM
- Crits Race Report 02 January
- Membership Message
- Handicapper’s Message
- Race calendar can be found here for other race dates needing Officials
RACING – Summer Series Evening Criterium Tuesday 09 January
| Grade | Time | Race Duration [ sunset @ 8:17 ] |
| E/F/G | 5:50 | 30mins + 2 laps |
| A/C | 6:30 | A 45mins + 2 laps; C 40mins + 2 laps |
| B/D | 7:20 | B 45mins + 2 laps; D 40mins + 2 laps |
Race registration 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@actvets.cc 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.
Committee member on duty:
**Lights needed if riding home from crits**
NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING – THURSDAY 11 JANUARY, 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 – 6.50pm: 1-lap SS Time Trial.
6.50PM – 7.10pm: 2-lap Handicap.
7.10pm – 7.30pm: 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.
Crits Race Report Tuesday 02 January
Eager members were blessed with almost perfect race conditions of mild temperatures and the slightest NE breeze despite the forecast, distant dark skies, and resident SFP ducks turning up expecting a quiet bath. First up were the smaller packs of A and C grades, with A having only 5 for the longest race of the season at 45 plus two. With the usual protagonists possibly licking their Festive 500 wounds the pack stayed together rolling turns at a moderate pace making life easy for the time keeper. With no obvious attacks it was left for Andrew Murrell at two to go to make a move that was quickly nullified by Tobias with all else playing the smart game and sitting on. Somewhere around the top corner Tobias found himself on the front giving him a long pull to either ride the pack off his wheel or sprint from the front. Showing he isn’t afraid to show his strength he attempted to ride them off the wheel shedding Andrew but providing the perfect leadout for the remainder playing it smart on his wheel. In the end Tobias held off a charging Marc Vroomans who was wishing the line to be one meter further, and Greg Harris in third.
C grade largely stayed together but put on a better show holding a higher intensity driven by a select few jumping on the front. This was enough to jettison a couple throughout the race but not enough to lose those playing the long game in what was also a long race at 40 plus two. Perhaps it was the pace, perhaps the Christmas turkey but no committed attacks came until David Buckley tried his luck with 18 to go. There was some interest in pulling David back but no ‘all or nothing’ rolls of the dice giving him the room to secure the win ahead of Peta Brill who showed her strength in the sprint after plenty of time on the front, and Terry Danaher in third.
B, D and two E grade cameos in D were up next in the night’s two biggest packs at 21 and 18. The race was slightly delayed when random citizens apparently unaware of the big yellow ‘Track closed – Race in progress’ signs rode onto the course in search of a great frisby spot. Sending a clear message he wasn’t here for a recovery session, MyRide’s Aaron Thompson put in an extra lap to educate them in the greatness of Tuesday night crits and impending show. This was a theme throughout B grade with Thomo consistently either on the front or attacking solo. Not to be outdone Krusty who sought to soften up the opposition on the start line with tales of bulk Christmas K’s and excessive leg fatigue was heavily animated. The yoyo award for the night went to Ian Preston who was off the back at the wrong end of wife’s vocal ‘encouragement’, back on, then off again. In all fairness his final demise may have come at the expense of some messiness at the top of course with B grade calling their pass late and D splintering in confusion. Darren Blackhurst made some trademark attacks throughout as the man that can always be relied on to shake up the race but with 30 to go Thomo, Ed Pellegrino and Krusty attempted to form a group off the front. They were reeled back in giving Paul Scherl the opportunity to put on the ride of the night going off the front and building a gap the length of the straight. It was at this point the weather gods turned unkind and the wind picked up sending lap boards scattering. To his credit he stayed strong for an impressive number of laps and looked to have burgled it but was ultimately reeled back in. Undeterred he was there in the final sprint that was taken out by Ed Pellegrino, Paul in second and Thomo delivering on his promise to track invading punters in third.
D grade kept the race director on his toes with multiple groups forming around the track which had to contend with a fourth frisby wielding local oblivious to bright yellow signs riding onto course. Despite this we witnessed some solid performances with many riding either solo or in small groups for the bulk of their 40 plus two, making it the only grade to finish with zero DNFs. Most committed award went to Rico Fitch who despite doing his time continued on for extra K’s. The rest of the pack mirrored A grade riding a sensible race and pace throughout knowing on a calm night the break has to be Scherl like special to stay away. In the end the sprint came down to Lance Purdon in first, Liz Lowe second and Tony Sheehan third. Special mention goes to trial rider James Steen who finished fourth and on return will likely make new friends in a higher grade, welcome James!
Thanks to Paul Robey for first aid and bell ringing expertise, Claire Aubrey for marshalling, Ian Hutchins for opening up and photography, Russell Marston with set up, and Peter for assisting with time keeping and composure when dealing with citizen 4. Another special mention must go to Conan Liu our membership guy who has had a busy week enabling the AVCC’s 11th hour change to ‘Hello Club’ and his last minute scramble to ensure re-registering riders could race last night.
Membership Message
Dear Members
Thank you to the 150+ members who have renewed their racing licence for the 2024 calendar year.
Just so you’re aware, I have to manually synchronise your membership between 2 databases, as the move to the new Hello Club system requires some export/upload software development so that they can talk to each other.
Please renew your financial membership early and ahead of the criterium 3:50pm deadline, to allow enough time for me to move your information across manually.
Once transferred across and active in the RMS, you can check your own status in the results section, and look up either your name or race number https://rms.crmcc.org.au/index
If you appear as ‘active’ and ‘financial’, then you know you can proceed to register for a race.
If you have yet to renew your racing licence for 2024, please note that the $140 is still applicable if you join in say April 2024, and there is no discounted pro-rata membership fee. The only price reduced intake may occur in October 2024 and if the same as last year, will be around $85 for 3 months of racing.
Please see below the instructions 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.
• If you would like to help the club with a CRCMCC $5 licence for race officials (e.g. first aid, events management) please contact membership@actvets.cc for more information and a link to this type of membership.
• For either licence, 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@actvets.cc if you have questions or if you encounter any issues.
Thanks
Conan Liu
CRMCC Club Membership Officer
Handicapper’s Message
Promotions
Ed Pellegrino B to A
Liz Lowe D to C
Road Nationals
The road nationals were held at the Buninyong course for the last time over the past week. A number of CRuMBS were in action in the masters’ events and gran fondo, where there were some very strong performances.
M8 TT
Bruce McMillan 3rd
M6 TT
Brendan Byatt 6th
Gran fondo
F3
Emma Padovan was second in a time that was in the top 10 for all ages, with Gill Lugg 6th.
F5
Kirsty Cummin 3rd
M5
MichaelTolhurst 2nd, in a time competitive among all ages.
M6
Steve Blackburn 4th
Extrapolations to greatness
At the nationals, Canberra’s Dylan Hopkins was fourth in the men’s criterium behind Caleb Ewen, Jensen Plowright and Sam Welsford. In CCC’s Carts Christmas crit, Dylan was second behind Oscar Chamberlain with Ben Morrison and Denis Mongoven only 7 seconds behind. Therefore, can we conclude that Ben and Denis would have finished in the top 20 in the nationals?
Rob Langridge
The 30th Anniversary Bleat has been posted on the Club Website.
Please see the following link:
The Bleat
If you would like to contribute to the Club and put the Bleat together each week, please reach our to us!
