- Notice of AGM
- Crit Reminder – Membership and Regrading
- International Women’s Day
- Next Race – Stromlo Crits
- NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING
- Race Report – Crits
- Upcoming races requiring volunteers – race calendar can be found here
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND CALL FOR NOMINATIONS TO THE COMMITTEE
You are all invited to the 2026 AGM for the Capital Region Masters Cycling Club, to be held on Monday 2 February at 7pm via Google meet:
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/iqu-ajfv-cvs
Or dial: (AU) +61 3 8594 6345 PIN: 701 509 747#
Want to make sure that the Club continues our no-frills, affordable racing into 2026 at different venues? Did you like the return to racing at the Gravel Pit this year? Or race crits in winter? The Club currently plans to return to more road racing venues, and consider other racing types, from April 2026.
The Club’s ability to run races, including returning to road racing to other venues in the NSW and the ACT, will be limited if we don’t get enough help from members joining the Committee or helping out in other ways. The more people help out, the less burden there is to keep the Club running.
Due to some Committee members stepping down in 2026, several Committee positions will be open. You can use the Committee nomination form or email committee@crmcc.org.auif you wish to nominate. Executive roles (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Membership) along with general Committee membership roles will be available and you will be well supported. If you have specific questions about vacant committee roles and responsibilities, please contact committee@crmcc.org.au.
The agenda for the AGM will include:
– reports from Committee members on success and challenges of the Club in 2025, include financial, membership, and racing reports;
– looking forward to racing in 2026;
– nominations for and appointment of Committee members for 2026.
Please note that this meeting is not an in-person AGM. If online mode of attendance is a problem for you, please contact committee@crmcc.org.au.
Simon Costello
Treasurer & Secretary
Crit Reminder – Membership and Regrading
If you are planning on racing Crits in 2026, please note the following updates on membership and grading:
Membership renewal
This is a reminder that you will need to renew your club membership before you will be able to race.
To renew membership online, please go to https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/membership/ and follow the instructions under: “Steps for renewing your annual membership”.
Once you have renewed, a member of the committee must manually update the RMS to make you active, so please note the following time cut-offs to allow this to happen:
- If you are a Crit Season Pass holder, please ensure that you renew your membership before 12:40 tomorrow. You will not immediately be shown as an entrant, but this will be updated by us before the race.
- If you enter races individually, please ensure that you renew your membership before 10am tomorrow. This is to allow us to update you in the system and get back to you in time to be able to enter before the normal 12:40 cut-off.
Criterium Regrading
As previously communicated in the Bleat (https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/2025/12/crmcc-weekly-bleat-08-december-2025/), we have completed a regrading exercise that is intended to improve the spread of racers across the grades.
Before racing, please check to see if your grade has changed and if so ensure that you attend the correct race.
New grades can be found at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Phf94jPvGo7OA_4nG71MfhY8oj5ePTz4/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102624606282391619796&rtpof=true&sd=true
Note: We will not be able to make any changes to individual grades on the day. Going forward, grades can be discussed with Rob our handicapper at: handicapper@crmcc.org.au
International Women’s Day – 8th March 2026
We’re looking for volunteers to help organise a club event to celebrate International Women’s Day. This would be a great opportunity for someone who’s passionate about inclusion, community, and cycling to shape an event that highlights and supports the women in our club. Support will be available from the committee, and the scope can be tailored to suit your time and ideas—whether that’s coordinating a ride, a social gathering, or something a bit different.
If you’re interested in getting involved or would like to know more, we’d love to hear from you. Just speak to one of the committee members or mail us at: committee@crmcc.org.au
Next Race – Crits at Stromlo Forest Park – Tuesday 20 January 2026
Please note, 5:40PM also holds the Women’s specific criterium grade (20mins) to foster participation and confidence in riding on the Stromlo Forest Park criterium track. Perfect for women and non-binary riders who are looking for an introductory ride or those that prefer cycling in a smaller group.
Race registration cut-off is 12:40pm. 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 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.
All riders are required to sign on before their race start.
We will be running an entry chute, where riders are called 1 by 1 onto the circuit in numerical order of sign-on.
Please remember to check the RMS Calendar for race times each week now that we are back to rotating all 3 time slots.
NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING – THURSDAY 22 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: 200m fly.
6.50pm – 7.10pm: 2-lap paired match races.
7.10pm – 7.30pm: Italian pursuit.
Spare Track Bikes
We have several spare track bikes if you wish to try track racing. Note that you will need to bring your
own pedals. You may need to pump up tyres (we will have a pump available) and adjust saddle / bar
position. You will need to check over the bike for safety purposes. Although we will assist as far as
practical, equipment safety and providing tools for fitting / adjustments is your responsibility.
Attendance
Please register your attendance at https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar?5021932
Each race will cost $10, or purchase the season track pass at $80.
NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING RESULTS – THURSDAY 15 JANUARY
The session races and place getters were as follows:
8-Lap Scratch: (A2 Grade) Alison Hale, Craig Kentwell. (B Grade) Ken Birch.
1-Lap Flying Start TT: (A2 Grade) Craig Kentwell (24.95s), Alison Hale (27.65). (B Grade) Ken Birch
(27.63s)
Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 2 (Alison Hale, Ken Birch).
Season Point Score:
Alison Hale (138), Graeme O’Neill (134), Phil Coulton (126), John Paul De Sousa (124), Ben Davis (109),
Chris Chant (103), Ken Birch (92), Jess Laws (85), Dave Buckley (75), Sarah Stephens (68), Ian Drayton
(63), Craig Kentwell (27), Paul Angelatos (18), Conan Liu (15).
Race Report – SFP Crits 13 January 2026
Another warm Tuesday night for the second race of the new year. Unfortunately the threat of smoke in the air was enough to lower the numbers a little. The wind direction also changed throughout the night with blustery conditions for the B grade race in particular..
First up came A and C grades
In A grade, the first couple of laps were a little pedestrian until Ben Morrison put the power down and broke off the front for a few laps. The Tiffen train started to organise a chase to bring Ben back into the fold before a group of 7 formed a solid break away. Once with the break formed it became obvious that with Jeremy Gillman-Wells in the breakaway that the rest of the Tiffen crew weren’t going to make the Jayco Alula mistake and bring the chasing group back to the leaders so the break stayed away and was destined to succeed. The group consisted of Ben Morrison, Jeremy Gillman Wells, Kris McCreath, Daniel Lekhac, Rainer Wilton, Matt McAuliffe, Tristan Dimmock. in the end a couple of attempts from the chasing groups were to no avail and it was a powerful sprint by Ben Morrison to take the win with Kris McCreath and Jeremy Gillman Wells taking the minor placings.
C grade started with a solid strung out group with Seymour getting back into the swing of leading the group after some time out of racing. After a couple laps Dave Buckley found himself at the front with the Quon contingent glued to his wheel. A couple laps later Simon Costello and Ian Preston were on the front driving the pace, before the Quon crew found themselves controlling the front of the race with Simon. Not long after Simon went solo putting up to the length of the main straight into the rest of the bunch – it eventually became a race for the minor placing with Simon finishing over half a lap ahead of the chasing bunch.
B grade were next with a solid group starting with the wind becoming more blustery and eventually changing direction. Nathan Spillane and Mark Jansen strung the bunch out early with Lewis Cressy also contributing to pushing the pace along at a good rate causing a short lived breakaway. Kim Pedersen hit the front for a solid stretch with the bunch stretched out behind her. Adrian Harris was the next to solo off the front and managed to put a solid distance into the bunch and stayed away for a couple of laps before eventually succumbing to the pace of the chasing group led by Nathan S, Mark J and James Watt. At 28min down Paul Scherl, Luke Cartwright, Nathan Rickerby had a short lived dig off the front before Gareth Downey took over driving the front of the bunch to bring them back to the fold. Another short lived break from Lewis Cressy and Nathan Rickerby before the bunch regrouped ready for the sprint. In the end it was a well contested bunch sprint with Ben McDuff taking the win ahead of Bruce Goodfellow and Luke Philps.
Last to head out were D followed by the combined E, F grades with the wind dropping nicely and changing direction to cool the temp down a little.
D grade largely stayed together for the first three quarters of the race with various protagonists taking turns to drive the front of the bunch including Kevin Newhouse, Steve Simms, Ben Harding.and Alex Sommariva. With 10 mins to go Nick Boylan soloed off the front and managed to stay away until the last lap, being caught with under half a lap to go with Rodney Welch and Alison Hale dragging the bunch back to Nick’s wheel. The finish was a bunch sprint taken out by Roger Wheatley, followed by Kevin Newhouse and Steve Simms.
E and F
Ian Morton and Robert Solomon were the early drivers from E grade, which soon turned into a huge solo effort from Sarah Hardy who essentially time trialled off the front of the bunch, eventually lapping the grade and soloing to the finish – which I’m sure will catch the eye of the handicapper. The solo F Grade starter, Phillip Martin did well staying with the higher grade riders to finish in the bunch.
Mark Vardy – Race Director
Photos thanks to Ian Hutchings
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Acf3iwUkV
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HHAhKUCyv
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HHHeqwkag
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HS9cuRaAq
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Mvuk4gu1G
Upcoming races needing volunteers
We have multiple vacancies for race directors for SFP crits.
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.
