Armidale Cycling Club continued to punch well above it’s weight at the Cycling Australia Masters Road National Championships on the weekend. Six riders represented Armidale in the ITT, Road Race and Criterium events on the Tweed Coast and they came home having done our club proud with some great performances and no less than three medals.

On the Friday in the ITT, Jeff Flatt placed 18th with a 30:51.23, 3m:05s down on the Mens Masters 4 winner who completed the 20K course at an average of 43.2kph. Swanny was next down the ramp in what turned out to be an even faster Masters 5 event finishing just over the half hour with a 30:20.81 and +3:03.1 on the gold medal winner. In the Masters 9, Col came home in first place, stopping the clock at 31:16.63 with an 18.3s advantage on the next best rider and averaging 38.4kph. Jo rounded off the ACC ITT rides taking third place in 37:29.91, +3:04.7 behind the WMAS6 winner.

After an evening of Power Ranger impressions washed down with strong cups of tea and a good nights sleep, all six riders were out in force for the Saturday road race. Col was off first in the combined Mens Masters 8-10 and of course, he came home with the goods, winning by a 2s margin from a field of 24 riders – seriously, is there no stopping this man? Jo came very close in the combined Women’s Masters 6-8 race, finishing 4th overall and claiming third in her Masters 6 category.

Jeff was a DNF in the Mens Masters 4 in what looks to have been a very fast and furious race where 15 of the 60 competitors abandoned. Richard finished 22nd in the Masters 7 and Phil 23rd in the Masters 6 just +3:45 off the pace.  Swanny fared very well in his Masters 5 race, finishing only 17s down on the bunch sprint where 11 riders were all given the same time and receiving a Highly Commended rating from Col – praise indeed!

And after all that they still came back for more in Sunday’s criterium where a bunch sprint at the end of a very competitive race saw Col finish 5th in the combined MM8-10 race which gave him a second place in the MMAS9 category, with the same time as the winner, and it was a similar story for Jo in the WM6-8 race where she finished 6th overall which got her a 3rd in her category, also with the same time as the winner.

Check out a few more photos of their exploits on our Gallery Pages including one of Col with his well-deserved Champion of Champions Jersey.

Well done to all our Armidale riders, Col Maciver, Phil Thomas, Andrew Swan, Jo Wauch and Richard Wilkinson – great racing!