Armidale Cycling Club

Saturday 25 October proved to be a bittersweet day for the club, with a touch of sadness in Ole and Lasse Mikkelsen racing for the last time before returning to live in Denmark, but on the other hand a number of riders moving to higher grades and performing well.

The day started with the usual junior time trial, with some exceptionally fast times from Reece O’Hara (1:46), Angus Swan (1:51), and Cody Burton and Rogan McPhie (both 1:55).

Lasse saved himself for one final hurrah, shaving a full 3 seconds off his previous best time to record 1:53 - a great effort.

Ben Castle, Kirk Burton, Kyle O’Hara, Sam Jenner and Adam Burke also rode well.

Next up was a five lap handicap race, with a slight miscalculation from the handicapper leading to the scratch riders overhauling the front markers by the half way mark. In the end the race was won by Rogan McPhie (who seems to have worked out a consistent winning strategy) from Cody Burton and Angus Swan.

The final junior event was a series of sprint races, won by Angus Swan and Kyle O’Hara.

Ole and Lasse then led the bunch around the track for a final lap of honour, followed by A and B grade criteriums of 25min+2 laps and 20min+2 laps.

Reece O’Hara and “Big Dave” Jenner stepped up to the mark in A grade, and both rode well to stay with the bunch to the end in a fast race averaging over 40km/h. Reece finished second to Dave Munday, with Bill Mara in third place.

Several of the juniors then raced with B grade, with Bruce Buxton generously declaring the first 10 minutes would be neutral so they wouldn’t be dropped too early. However, as the race unfolded it became obvious that the neutral period was needed more by the seniors than the juniors! The youngsters rode extremely well, taking out the top three places with Cody Burton first, Angus Swan second, and Rogan McPhie third.

In the meantime, Ole and Lasse were content to do a few laps before sitting back to watch others fight out the races. Both have part of the club for some years now, and are well known for their competitive spirit - whenever they were in the leading bunch at the end of a race they were always a chance of winning the sprint. For most of us the best chance was to try and shake them on a hill, but even that was often difficult.

While the family has had a tough time over the last couple of months, we wish them all the best for the future and will definitely miss having them around.