Mark Haydon showed the benefits of his Tour de Cure training by winning the 45km race on Long Swamp Road on 15 May. He was part of a group of riders from the seven minute group who got to the finish first, and was able to out-sprint Dave Jenner and Wilfried Keller for the win, with Ken McDonald fourth and Mick Sozou fifth.
The race started with Jackie Weston and Ray Phillips off go. Jackie left Ray behind on the first climb of the Imbota Forest hill, and set out for a long solo ride.
Off five minutes were Dave Rubie, Craig Burton, Mick Sozou, Roy Wheatley, Phil Bookalil and Dean Burke, who rode well until being swept up by the seven minute group at the halfway mark. They were able to stay with the faster riders with varying degrees of success, with the best of the bunch being Soz. This large group got to the lead going into the third and final lap of the course when they overtook Jackie who was riding with her usual determination.
Riding off block at 13 minutes were Lachie McPhie, Phil Thomas and Rob Tindale who had to ride strongly to make up for the soft turns of the fourth member of the group. They caught the remnants of the 10 minute group at half race distance, where they were reinforced by Bill Mara who made a solid contribution to catching the front runners. While they came close, in the end they didn’t have quite enough in the tank to bridge the gap, coming in a minute behind the winners.
Meanwhile, the scratch group was also gaining rapidly, with Dave Munday and Pete McDonald leading the way and Brent Weston doing a terrific job keeping up with the fast pace. Mick Hoult dropped off exhausted after putting in a tough 60km training session before the race, and unfortunately Brent succumbed to the pressure within in sight of the finish line when he crossed wheels with Dave and came down.
Dave and Pete went on to catch the block group right on the line to take fastest time.
Once again it was a good race with everyone riding well, making sure that the winners earned their keep. Full results below:
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