On Saturday 21 February former Armidale and current Inverell rider Alan Miller paid us a visit … and after setting a scorching time of 1:36 for the one lap time trial proceeded to win the A grade criterium.
The crit got off to a good start, with Pat Ainsworth bolting from the gun to build up a good lead, obviously benefiting from an extra helping of porridge for breakfast.
The bunch left him out there for the first third of the race before reeling him in. From there it stayed together till the end for an exciting sprint finish.
Lachie McPhie made the first move, taking the lead up the hill on the final lap. But he couldn’t hang on, and was overtaken by Alan who won convincingly from Col Maciver, with Pat nabbing a well deserved third place.
In B grade, Rogan McPhie did better than his dad, winning ahead of Cody Burton and Angus Swan – another good result for the youngsters.
Meanwhile there were some good efforts in the junior time trial. Several newcomers rode well (and were obviously enjoying themselves judging from the smiles on their faces), including Kieran Sullivan (3:01), Ben Sullivan (2:34), and Jack Parker (2:23).
Of the old hands, Sam Jenner showed a big improvement to post a 2:09, along with Reece Burton at 2:31.
Cody Burton and Rogan McPhie both recorded 1:52’s, but the biggest surprise was a 1:40 by Angus Swan. That’s an improvement of 10 seconds. Wonder what he had for breakfast?