It had all come down to the wire on Saturday with another good turnout of riders ready to compete in the final round of the 3-round Club Criterium Championship for A and B grades. Unfortunately, just over 20 minutes into the race, the track was hit by heavy rain and racing on the right circuit was called off for safety reasons.
Under the rules of the contest, the round was cancelled with no points awarded and the standings after Round 2 used to determine the overall championship winners.
In B-Grade this resulted in a very worthy victory for Hugh Munday who had decimated the field with his strong riding in both the prior rounds – well done Hugh! Pete Creagan notably finished second to Hugh in each race, outdone on each occasion by the younger riders rocket-like sprinting.
In A-Grade, while the author would love to give you the impression that Rob Hale is the fastest criterium rider in the club at the moment, he is under no illusion about that one. Once everyone has forgotten the facts though it will make for a great story to tell the grandchildren one day – how he raced against (and beat) the U23 World Championship rider in the Armidale Club Crit! Thanks Sam Jenner, and Sam Munday for a demonstration of youthful power in Round 2 last time out and Sammy J for fitting in our race as a warm-down after your 5 hours of Saturday training again this time. With Holly Harris also making an appearance we now have 3 sponsored road racing riders who not only impress on the national stage but who also make time to race with their own local clubs. Add Mitch Bullen to the mix and it’s not hard to see why cycling in Armidale is flourishing.
With strong interest we even had time to squeeze in a women’s C-Grade race at the tail-end of the Development Program beforehand, and in a well-contested battle Lucy Cook outsprinted Jo Wauch to win by 2 bike lengths with Jacqui King coming home third. Well done Lucy!
Thank you Wilf and Bullo for giving up your time to run the race and congratulations to all riders who competed in the 3-round series which was a new move this season requested at the AGM in November. Give us your feedback on how it went and any ideas or suggestions for improvement.
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- Points awarded as follows – 1st (7pts), 2nd (5pts), 3rd (3pts), 4th (2pts), 5th (1pt)
- 1 additional point awarded for every rider competing per round
- Full details and competition rules available here