Taylor reclaims the Green jersey

Graded Handicap Road Race 41km, Myall/Mulga St Cardross, Sunday 15 November 2009

Taylor reclaims the Green jersey

Mildura-Coomealla Cycling Club staged a 41 km graded handicap road race (31 km handicap for juniors) on its Myall/Mulga St Cardross circuit on the morning of Sunday 15 November 2009. Thirty eight riders, including six juniors, took to the line under an already scorching sun. At the start of racing the temperature was 28 degrees and by completion had reached 35 degrees - a stark contrast to last year's sub 15 degree temperatures. A light breeze out of the south east at 11 kph continued to ease to near still conditions by the end of the race.

Under graded handicap format for the seniors, the field was split into four groups. The seven strong D grade bunch of Ken Dean, Ben Athorn, Brodie Athorn, Alana Hale, Terry Miller, Alison Curry and Mick Allford were the first away. The group savoured a 4:30 minute head start on the C grade bunch, which was made up of Ben Vagnarelli, Dave Priest, Chris Schilling, Rachel Hanlin, Greg Scott, Matt Cottrell, Harry Robbins, Dave Digby and returning rider Dene Carruthers.

A further 3 minutes in arrears was the seven man B grade squad of Rob Akkermans, Adrian Lloyd, Arthur Anderson, Gary Pitt, Jeff Mitchell, Tom Athorn and Barry Pollock. Chasing 4:30 minutes behind was the scratch bunch of Gary Henderson, Chris Parrott, Kevin Tankard, Dean Taylor, Richard Hale, Mark Phillips, Nathan Langley, Ian Beruldsen and Les Jordan.

The limit bunch fractured early with Ken Dean retiring from the race after the first lap leaving the C grade group to complete the chase by the end of the second lap. The C grade group, driven by Robbins and bolstered by the presence of Carruthers worked hard with Schilling, Hanlin, Cottrell and Digby contributing to the pace setting. The group soon trimmed down to six as Vagnarelli, Priest and Scott lost contact with their colleagues in the early stages. Priest and Scott managed to jump on the passing B group train as they were rounded up by a determined B grade group towards the end of lap 2. While Scott settled into the new pace, Priest dropped off after a short while and later withdrew from the race. B Grade worked well together, rolling through for short but hard time trial turns with coach Pollock directing the pace.

By the completion of lap 3 the scratch group, who had shed Beruldsen and Phillips in the early laps, had the lead riders in sight. Pitt and Mitchell split off the front of the lead group in an attempt to sneak home before any catch was made. Meanwhile 1/3 of the way through the last lap the A grade scratch group thundered past the B grade group with Nathan Langley driving hard on the front in an attempt to put quick distance into the previous leaders causing Jordan to pop out the back in the passing attack. Further up the road Pitt and Mitchell were gathered up but managed to get on the scratch bunch who had eased up the pace at this point. As the six leading C grade riders approached the left hand corner into Boomerang St, the scratch group whistled past lead by Tankard with the ears pinned back. From that point it was time for the real attacks to start with Tankard and Parrott getting in on the act. As the race entered the long home straight the field had splintered as Tankard continued to try and shed the sprinters well before the finishing line. With the last hill determining most riders final fate, Tankard found himself in the company of Langley and Taylor for an inevitable sprint finish. The winning move occurred 50 meters from the line when Taylor made the final surge for the line edging out Tankard and Langley who finished in that order.

Grade winners were -
A Grade - Dean Taylor
B Grade - Gary Pitt
C Grade - Dene Carruthers
D Grade - Ben Athorn

The 6 juniors were split into three starting bunches, with Tyler Beruldsen and Bevan Henderson starting first. The limit duo started 2 minutes in front of Thomas Allford and James Burge. Whilst the limit rides split on the first lap, the chopping block chasers kept it together and soon were at the head of the race. The scratch pair of Nathan Jordan and Thomas Henderson started a further 2 minutes back and got off to a flying start before Thomas fell victim to the heat leaving Nathan to pursue the leaders on his own. The race finished with a long range sprint between Thomas Allford, James Burge and Tyler Beruldsen with James proving too strong on the day coming home for a convincing win with Tyler taking second place ahead of Thomas Allford in third. Nathan Jordan came within seconds of the winning trio but had to settle for fourth and fastest time overall. A terrific example of persistence was shown by Bevan Henderson who despite loosing contact with the field early in the race stuck it out in the heat to complete the distance on his own. Well done Bevan.

Thanks to Penny Hale, Murray Langley, Dean Taylor and Gary Henderson for helping out with race administration and set-up duties. The next race will be an 8 km time trial at the Riverside short course on Tuesday 17 November. Mark Phillips and Ben Nicholson are on race set up duty.

SENIORS 41 km
Position Name Total Time Handicap Actual Time

1 Dean Taylor 1:10:36.8 0:12:00 0:58:37
2 Kevin Tankard 1:10:36.9 0:12:00 0:58:37
3 Nathan Langley 1:10:37.2 0:12:00 0:58:37
4 Chris Parrott 1:10:40.4 0:12:00 0:58:40
5 Gary Henderson 1:10:44.8 0:12:00 0:58:45
6 Garry Pitt 1:10:47.8 0:07:30 1:03:18
7 Richard Hale 1:10:57.2 0:12:00 0:58:57
8 Dene Carruthers 1:10:57.2 0:04:30 1:06:27
9 Jeff Mitchell 1:10:57.3 0:07:30 1:03:27
10 Harry Robbins 1:10:58.0 0:04:30 1:06:28
11 Rachel Hanlin 1:10:58.1 0:04:30 1:06:28
12 Matt Cottrell 1:11:16.6 0:04:30 1:06:47
13 Dave Digby 1:11:22.0 0:04:30 1:06:52
14 Chris Schilling 1:11:34.1 0:04:30 1:07:04
15 Les Jordan 1:12:18.5 0:12:00 1:00:18
16 Ben Athorn 1:12:22.6 0:00:00 1:12:23
17 Tom Athorn 1:12:24.4 0:07:30 1:04:54
18 Adrian Lloyd 1:12:24.9 0:07:30 1:04:55
19 Arthur Anderson 1:12:25.6 0:07:30 1:04:56
20 Barry Pollock 1:12:26.0 0:07:30 1:04:56
21 Rob Akkermans 1:12:26.2 0:07:30 1:04:56
22 Greg Scott 1:12:32.0 0:04:30 1:08:02
23 Alana Hale 1:17:49.4 0:00:00 1:17:49
24 Michael Allford 1:17:49.9 0:00:00 1:17:50
25 Miller Terry 1:22:54.9 0:00:00 1:22:55
26 Alison Curry 1:27:40.3 0:00:00 1:27:40
27 Brodie Athorn 1:30:25.2 0:00:00 1:30:25
DNF Dave Priest 0:56:49.4 0:04:30 0:52:19
DNF Ben Vagnarelli 0:59:31.7 0:04:30 0:55:02
DNF Ian Beruldsen 1:10:13.8 0:12:00 0:58:14
DNF Ken Dean 0:44:23.7 0:00:00 0:44:24
DNF Mark Phillips 0:47:24.3 0:12:00 0:35:24

JUNIORS 31 km
Pos Name Total Time Handicap Actual Time
1 James Burge 1:02:45.7 0:02:00 1:00:46
2 Tyler Beruldsen 1:02:50.7 0:00:00 1:02:51
3 Thomas Allford 1:02:54.1 0:02:00 1:00:54
4 Nathan Jordan 1:02:58.8 0:04:00 0:58:59
5 Thomas Henderson 1:05:20.5 0:04:00 1:01:21
6 Bevan Henderson 1:30:12.5 0:00:00 1:30:12