It has been nearly 4 months since we had an ITT, and nearly 7 since one was run on Long Swamp. Back in November 2014 Ben Harris and Mick Hoult both ‘broke the hour’ coming home at over 40kph on the hilly course. There would be no replay today though with a 26kph NW wind that helped on the way out but hampered efforts on the homeward leg and made the actual temperature of 11 degrees seem an awful lot less.

The weather and the build up to Le Tour no doubt had an impact on numbers with just ten riders braving the elements. That included a very welcome U13 guest from Coffs Harbour – Asher Fawle – who was getting his race legs ready for more serious competition later this month in Sydney and he set off 30s in arrears of a a very well rugged-up Jo Wauch.

With that strong tail-wind, the outward leg resulted in some fast times at the half-way point and it also limited the catches en-route although about half a dozen riders were starting to bunch up at the turn. The climb of Imbota saw a few changes in race order on the road although in the main Clint and Col had got the sequence just about spot on with the exception of Billy who’d started last as a consequence of his late arrival rather than his realistic ambitions to unseat Houlty from the prime podium spot.

It was clear at the turn that Jeff ‘Aeroman’ Flatt was the one to watch and he picked off rider after rider on the way home turning a massive gear very effectively on the downhill and level sections but less effectively on the climb at the finish. As Houlty smashed his way home it was down to the timekeeper to determine who had won, and after a tense few moments as Clint calmly did his maths, Aeroman emerged the winner, by a margin of 19s.

Congratulations Jeff and thanks to Clint for putting the signs out, running the race and doing all the timing. Well done to all the riders who rode extremely well given that they’d all had to contend with Johnny’s 45 degree starting hold which brought back memories of riding Oblivion at Alton Towers…

Results are up on our Results Service now, next week we’re back on Swampy but for a 30K handicap race.

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