It was another cold & windy winter day for Saturdays race, with a stiff westerly breeze blowing across the Dangarsleigh course, with 30km of out & back racing. Similar to last weeks scratch racing on the same parcours, the wind was cross/tail and tail on the way out and head, cross/head on the way back making for testing conditions for riders who were competing for those precious RROTY points.
We had a trio of GO riders to kick things off, with Jacqui King, Mark Conroy, and Abbott White at the head of the race. A duo of Captain Creagan and Christian Girard started 2mins back.
It was then at 5mins that we had the first batch of B graders, with 5 riders getting the nod including Tinny, Billy Mara, Chris Belson, Richard Wilko, and Dene Bourke. The 5 B+ riders were right behind them at 6:30mins, with Kirky, Swanny, Rod Christie, Clint Bourke and Gareth Kelly leading the charge.
Ploughing a lone furough at 7:15mins was John Scott-Hamilton, who had a healthy lead over Block who hit the road at 11mins, with Brent as the lone Scratchie who would need to empty the tank early to close the 30 second gap on Block before they got motoring.
On the outbound leg the groups remained together until the 15 km turn, except for Billy who dropped off his group and turned early, and Brent who didn’t manage to catch the 3 ahead and also turned early. Ride of the day was performed by Johnny who rode the whole race on his own with the group ahead almost within touching distance, but without ever being able to make a final push to close the gap.
On the return leg the climb from the monument started to see groups lose riders. Mark made a bid for a solo win up Knobs Hill but was caught with about 5km to go by the fast-charging combined 5m/6m30s group, who were then destined to contest the win. The 3 block riders chased valiantly all the way but didn’t manage close the gap. Once again, Clint exercised his sprinting skills for a close win from Chris, Richard, Gareth, Swanny and Dene. Johnny finished just 12s behind at the finish, a great solo effort that deserved a better reward.
Well done to all racers for their efforts in the tough conditions; thanks to Houlty for doing the signs, and Col for running the race.
Next week we return to crit racing for the final InterClub round on our local TEC course – online entries are open so signup!
https://www.buncheur.com/armidale-cc-interclub-2021-round-3
[table id=388 /]