Handicap Road Race 56 km, Merbein Cemetery, Saturday 25 April 2009
Anzac Day Handicap 2009
Mildura-Coomealla Cycling Club staged a 56 km handicap road race at its Merbein Cemetery course on Saturday 25 April 2009. Nineteen senior’s riders started the event, including returning member Adrian Richardson. Nine juniors raced on the same course, albeit over 32 km. A strong north westerly wind provided a fast run down the Calder Highway section of the course, but meant the riders had to battle a strong cross headwind on the climb back up to the cemetery.
The handicapper split the seniors into four starting groups, with 20 minutes separating limit and scratch. Adrian Richardson, Dave Digby, Kevin Gregory and Alison Curry were the four limit riders, although the group was reduced to three on the first lap when Curry was dropped on the tailwind section. Second limit started at 11 minutes and was made up of Les Jordan, Tom Athorn, Adrian Lloyd, Barry Pollock, Arthur Anderson and Greg Scott. This group lost Scott on lap four when he DNF’d and was further split when caught by chopping block on lap five with only Lloyd and Jordan able to go with the faster riders.
Chopping block started at 14:40 minutes and consisted of Ben Nicholson, Nathan Langley, Garry Pitt and Rob McNally. Nicholson and McNally were the two workhorses in this group and made an all out effort to hold off the six strong scratch bunch. The scratch bunch started 5:20 minutes behind chopping block and comprised Kevin Tankard, Gary Henderson, Richard Hale, Dean Taylor, Simon Wilkinson and Mark Phillips. The scratch bunch blew apart on lap three when Tankard surged off the back taking Wilkinson with him. Taylor was dropped and later DNF’d leaving the other three chasing to get back on, whilst scratching their heads to work out what was happening! They managed to rejoin with Tankard and Wilkinson but valuable time was lost.
With chopping block picking up Lloyd and Jordan on lap five this group took over the race lead and was unstoppable, especially with Tankard continuing to upset the rhythm of the scratch bunch. Nicholson proved too strong for Langley at the finish, taking a well deserved win, with Jordan snatching third place. Wilkinson led the scratch rider’s home to snare seventh place and fastest time in 1:22:52 hours. No doubt the handicapper will have a good think about where he places Nicholson and Jordan in the next race!
The nine juniors were also split into four starting groups with Martin Ryan (JM15) and Lachlan Ryan (JM13) leading the way in limit. The two brothers started 4 minutes ahead of James Burge (JM15), Bridget Hale (JW17) and Shane Martin (U/19) in second limit. Next away was the chopping block pair of Thomas Henderson (JM15) and Brodie Athorn (U/19) at nine minutes. Alana Hale (JW15) and Ben Athorn (JM17) were the two scratch riders, starting a further three minutes back. Shane split the second limit group on the first lap and never looked back, quickly rounding up the limit pair. He then rode a solo race at the head of the field and finished more than two minutes clear of the second placed Ben Athorn, who also took fastest time in 1:00:40 hours.
The Club’s ChipX decoder box was sent off for a service during the week, and whilst AMB supplied a loan unit, some technical difficulties on race day prevented the timing system from being used. Full race placing’s and provisional times can be found at
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=407279. Current Bicycle Superstore Winter 2009 points can also be found at
www.MyLaps.com.
Thanks to Julieanne Ryan, Penny Hale, Murray Langley, Barry Pollock, Garry Pitt and Arthur Anderson for helping out. The next race is a 75 km handicap at Kulkyne Way on Saturday 2 May.
Results:
Juniors (32 km):
1. Shane Martin (U/19) 01:06:18 hours
2. Ben Athorn (JM17) 01:00:40 (fastest time)
3. Thomas Henderson (JM15) 01:03:41
4. Alana Hale (JW15) 01:01:45
5. Brodie Athorn (U/19) 01:08:56
6. James Burge (JM15) 01:15:21
7. Bridget Hale (JW17) 01:15:32
8. Lachlan Ryan (JM13) 01:22:37
9. Martin Ryan (JM15) 01:23:55
Seniors (56 km):
1. Ben Nicholson 01:27:36 hours
2. Nathan Langley (U/19) st
3. Les Jordan 01:31:16
4. Rob McNally 01:27:36
5. Garry Pitt st
6. Adrian Lloyd 01:31:16
7. Simon Wilkinson 01:22:52 (fastest time)
8. Mark Phillips st
9. Kevin Tankard st
10. Richard Hale st
11. Gary Henderson st
12. Dave Digby 01:44:00
13. Kevin Gregory st
14. Barry Pollock 01:36:54
15. Tom Athorn st
16. Arthur Anderson 01:40:23
17. Adrian Richardson 01:53:47
18. Alison Curry 02:07:50
DNF Dean Taylor
DNF Greg Scott
