The Armidale Cycling Club Junior Championships were another rip-roaring success on Saturday afternoon. A great turnout witnessed the proceedings which included a good number of senior riders who, having failed to find a road on which to race at 2:30pm (sigh), came down to the track, did a quick burst and sat back to support the main event.
Our juniors put on a real show and every rider in B-grade posted a personal best on the one-lap time trial – congratulations to Ryan Harris, Alex King and Sam King. Our A-grade riders Lachie Harris and Cal Godwin were yet again perfectly matched and both came in with a blistering 2m:09s for the standing start lap.
Next up was a 5-lap race, again split into A and B grades. Alex reversed the earlier time trial result, coming in ahead of her brother Sam this time round in B grade. Lachie and Cal, already level-pegged after the individual time trial seemed set to take it to the wire once more until on the bell with 1 lap to go, Lachie launched a fine attack which Cal couldn’t chase down and Lachie rolled over the line for a fine victory.
Time Trial Results
| Grade | Rider | Time | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | HARRIS Ryan | 2m:44s | 3 | 1 |
| B | KING Alex | 2m:17s | 2 | 2 |
| B | KING Sam | 2m:15s | 1 | 3 |
| A | HARRIS Lachie | 2m:09s | J1 | 2 |
| A | GODWIN Cal | 2m:09s | J1 | 2 |
5-Lap Criterium Results
| Grade | Rider | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | HARRIS Ryan | 3 | 2 |
| B | KING Alex | 1 | 6 |
| B | KING Sam | 2 | 4 |
| A | HARRIS Lachie | 1 | 4 |
| A | GODWIN Cal | 2 | 2 |
And after all that, the senior and junior riders joined together in an Italian Pursuit for a few laps to top off the day. It was really great for the juniors to have the chance to see and chat with Mitch Bullen and Sam Jenner at the track. Both are great examples in their own right of shining stars who have risen from beginnings on the very same circuit and both are a great inspiration to our young riders. As always a huge thanks to our junior coach Karlee, and indeed the whole McMillan family who organised the barbecue and refreshments and who do a fantastic job supporting our club members of the future. And we were even graced with the presence of Bloodhound Billy who having failed to find any riders at Dangarsleigh or Long Swamp, sniffed out the action at the track, arriving just in time to quench his hard-earned thirst with a beer, an Ice Cold Billy Mara beer of course.