Riverside long circuit (BBQ)

A great day for a BBQ after a hard race

Mildura-Coomealla Cycling Club staged a 60km graded scratch road race on its Riverside Long circuit on the afternoon of Saturday 15 May 2010. Junior riders contested a 30km age based scratch event over the same course. The conditions were cool with a top temperature of only 15 degrees and a 17 kph south westerly breeze blowing.

The senior field got underway with D grade first with the remaining grades released at subsequent minute intervals. Mark Fabich, Thomas Henderson, Ken Dean, Kev Gregory, Paul Nakhla, Terry Miller and Alison Curry made up the group. Curry and Miller became detached from the group early with Nakhla also loosing contact. Fabich, Henderson, Gregory and Dean battled their way over the six laps with Fabich too strong for the sprint to the line narrowly beating Henderson with Dean coming in third.

C grade were away next with Dave Digby, Greg Scott, Dave Priest, Mick Allford, Rachael Hanlin and Michael "Shippy" Shipsides making up the squad. Shippy misjudged the start time and was still warming up when the starter released the C grade group. In his desperation to minimise the delay he locked up the back wheel in order to come to a stop at the start line before being allowed to proceed. Smoke and a visible 10 meter skid mark were testament to his eagerness to catch up with his colleagues but the gap has too much and he eventually abandoned the race. Oblivious to Shippy's mishap, Priest and Scott launched a series of attacks over the first two laps. Priest unfortunately had to call it a day mid race due to ill health. The remaining group stayed together as they jostled for position. The last lap saw numerous attacks from Scott, who led the group to within sight of the finish line. This played into the hands of the in form Allford who powered home to take first place with Digby placing second and the hard working Scott third.

The B grade bunch of Gary Pitt, Arthur Anderson, Andrew Ryan, Adrian Lloyd, Tom Athorn, and Chris Schilling were next away and it wasn’t long before the attacks started. As usual Anderson hit out first and although every rider had “a go” at some stage, he and Ryan were the main aggressors all day. The group was content to leave a single rider off the front, but as soon as a second tried to jump across to form a breakaway, the move was quickly shut down by the rest of the group. This made the race interesting with everyone paying close attention to the tactical manoeuvring. Heading down Park Lane for the final time, Anderson was boxed in, but finally found an opening and attacked towards the final corner with Ryan on his wheel, followed by Athorn and Lloyd. Into the home straight and everyone was looking for the prime line up the centre of the road. With 150 metres to go Athorn wound up speed in a bid for the win and crossed the line first followed closely by Ryan, Lloyd, Schilling, Anderson and Pitt in that order.

The A grade field of Kev Tankard, Taryn Heather, Tom Sutcliffe, Mark Phillips, Richard Hale, Les Jordan, Rob Akkermans and Gary Henderson were the last senior group away. Before the group had time to settle into any rhythm, Henderson flew up the road in an early bid to mix things up. The remaining group were happy to settle in at least until the legs warmed up before getting too excited. Sutcliffe decided he wasn't going to sit back and watch things happen so rode off the front of the pack in a solo effort that saw him out on his own for around half the race. The time eventually came to bring him back into the fold and prepare for new race tactics for the last couple of laps. It wasn't long after the whole bunch were back together that the key break came as Henderson, Tankard, Jordan and Sutcliffe split the bunch with a lap and a half to go. The lead group was soon back to just Henderson and Tankard with Sutcliffe and Jordan unable to hold on as the pressure was applied. The chase group started to mount a serious catch well into the last lap but was not closing in as fast enough. The pace lifted along the downhill stretch past First Street and beyond Bruce's Bend as Hale, Phillips and Heather dug deep. The effort was in vein as the persuants realised they had run out of road. Before the last home straight corner, Tankard dropped his companion and rode off for a well deserved victory with Henderson coming home second and Hale winning the chase group sprint for third.

The junior field contested an age based scratch race held over a 30km distance. The Under 17 group of Ben Athorn, James Burge, Alana Hale, Meagan Hale and Martin Ryan were first away. Martin found it difficult to stay with the group and lost contact in the early stages. The remaining riders battled it out among themselves and largely stayed together until the end where Ben proved too strong in the sprint edging out James to take line honours with Alana in third and Meagan fourth.

The Under 15s fought out a three way contest with Nathan Jordan, Tom Allford and Bevan Henderson in the mix. Bevan found the going tough which left Nathan and Tom to fight it out. With the finish line in sight both riders gave their all in the sprint with Nathan narrowly taking first place ahead of Tom. Bevan claimed third place.

Thanks to Penny, Julieanne, Mark and Kev for helping out with race administration and set-up duties. Many thanks to the Allford family who once again did a great job hosting the BBQ at the Club house after the race. The Club wished Julieanne a happy birthday in the post race briefing (unfortunately she wasn't there for us to sing to). The next race will be a combined graded scratch race at Merbein cemetery over 56kms (30km for Juniors). Tom Athorn and Terry Miller are on set-up duty.

RESULTS

SENIORS
Pos Name Elapsed Time

A Grade
1 Kevin Tankard 1:33:54.5
2 Gary Henderson 1:34:02.8
3 Richard Hale 1:34:06.5
4 Les Jordan 1:34:06.8
5 Mark Phillips 1:34:07.8
6 Taryn Heather 1:34:09.4
7 Rob Akkermans 1:34:09.5
8 Tom Sutcliffe 1:35:26.9

B Grade
1 Tom Athorn 1:44:00.8
2 Andrew Ryan 1:44:01.1
3 Adrian Lloyd 1:44:01.2
4 Chris Schilling 1:44:02.1
5 Arthur Anderson 1:44:02.0
6 Garry Pitt 1:44:03.4

C Grade
1 Michael Allford 1:47:55.8
2 Dave Digby 1:47:58.0
3 Greg Scott 1:47:59.5
4 Rachel Hanlin 1:48:02.3
DNF Dave Priest DNF
DNF Michael Shipsides DNF
DNS Harry Robbins DNS

D Grade
1 Mark Fabich 1:49:09.7
2 Thomas Henderson 1:49:09.7
3 Ken Dean 1:49:12.4
4 Kevin Gregory 1:49:15.8
5 Paul Nakhla 1:39:29.8
6 Miller Terry 2:02:42.7
7 Alison Curry 2:10:43.5

JUNIORS
Pos Name Elapsed Time

Under 17
1 Ben Athorn 0:54:28.6
2 James Burge 0:54:28.9
3 Alana Hale 0:54:32.1
4 Megan Hale 0:54:44.1
5 Martin Ryan 1:08:21.7

Under 15
1 Nathan Jordan 1:01:45.7
2 Thomas Allford 1:01:45.8
3 Bevan Henderson 1:05:54.9
DNS Sean Schilling DNS