The Queen’s birthday long weekend saw Armidale riders competing in several events around the state.

Cody Burton rode well in the Tamworth Junior Tour, finishing a creditable 7th in the Under 17B division. Well done Cody!

In addition, the allstar team of Captain Kirk and the Klingons reformed for the Mauri Kautto Team Time Trial in Grafton. Two members from the 2007 squad, Andrew Kirk and Rob Tindale, joined forces with Ross Burgess, Pat McMillan and John Scott-Hamilton.

After setting a blistering pace for the first 20km, the Captain had a puncture, and they decided to stop while Scotty to fixed it.

Their chances of a fast time by now out the window, they continued at a more relaxed pace to finish the race, by all accounts having an enjoyable ride.

Meanwhile, your correspondent teleported to Wagga to compete in the McDonald’s Classic. This was a two day event, with handicap road races in two divisions on the Saturday, and criteriums in the city centre on Sunday.

The scale of these races was very impressive, with over 200 riders competing. I was in the second division 84km handicap, riding off block with 27 other riders!

On the second day, the criteriums went down to F grade. I rode in D, which was about the standard of our B grade at the Autumn Festival.

A grade was an excellent race with about 35 riders of a very high standard. A number of top teams were represented including Praties from Tasmania and Drapac Porsche. The winner was Wagga local Tom Parker who rides for Drapac.

Being handy to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, as well as a number of southern regional centres, the Wagga club is able to attract large numbers to this event. Of course $20K in prize money was also a big incentive!

Andrew Swan