Taylor holds off one of Footscray’s finest

RACE REPORT
Graded Criterium, Airport Circuit, Sunday 17 January 2010

Taylor holds off one of Footscray’s finest

Mildura-Coomealla Cycling Club staged a criterium at the closed Airport driver training circuit on the morning of Sunday 17 January. Numbers were down for the first race event after the Christmas break with 27 riders, including 4 juniors, out to recapture some race form. The Club welcomed visiting Footscray Cycling Club rider, Adam Murchie, who was out visiting family in the region.

The event was held in relatively cool conditions with winds gusting from 20 to 37 kph from the south keeping temperatures down to around 17 degrees for the morning session.

The junior and D grade fields were combined and had the circuit to themselves to contest their 30 minute and 40 minute criteriums respectively. The junior field comprising Nathan Jordan, Thomas Henderson, Tom Allford and Megan Hale were soon split as Thomas Henderson showed plenty of strength by breaking away in the opening laps. His fellow riders tried to remain together but the group fractured as each rider settled into their own rhythm for the balance of the race. Thomas remained untroubled as he lapped the field and cruised home for an easy victory with Nathan, Tom and Megan finishing in that order.

The six strong D grade field was made up of Alana Hale, Ken Dean, Alison Curry, Michael Allford, Terry Miller and Ryan Clifford. An early solo breakaway by Clifford set the scene for the race. Curry and Miller lost contact with the chase group in the early laps which saw Allford, Hale and Dean settle into a steady tempo for the middle part of the race. In the latter stages, the lack of training kilometres took its toll as Hale found herself out the back leaving Allford and Dean to chase positions on the podium. Clifford continued to put time into the field, lapping his fellow competitors at least once, and crossed the line for a well deserved win. Dean came in second ahead of Allford for third.

It was then time for the remaining senior grades to take to the track. A and B grade raced for 45 minutes and C grade for 40 minutes with each group being released with a 10 second separation.

The C grade group was made up of Taryn Heather, Rachel Hanlin, Ben Vagnarelli, Greg Scott and Dene Carruthers. Carruthers was the first casualty, withdrawing from the race in the early stages with a flat tyre. The already light starting line-up were then down to four riders. The out-of-form Scott was the next to lose contact with Hanlin also finding the pace set by Heather a bit too much. Heather and Vagnarelli were left to fight it out however Heather proved the stronger rider on the day and relegated Vagnarelli to second place with Hanlin crossing closely behind for third.

The smallest field of the day was the B grade field of Arthur Anderson, Gary Pitt, Barry Pollock and Rob Akkermans. The circuit claimed another puncture victim with Pollock retiring to the sideline as a spectator for the remainder of the race. This left Akkermans to exert his dominance over the rest of the field by attacking on several occasions only to be reeled back in by the tenacious Pitt and Anderson. Well into the race Anderson began to tire and Pitt and Akkermans seized upon the opportunity to turn the screws on their more senior colleague through the headwind section. With Anderson dispatched, Pitt and Akkermans rode the remainder of the race together with Akkermans outsprinting Pitt to take line honours.

The largest field of the day was A grade – Richard Hale, Kevin Tankard, Dean Taylor, Mark Phillips, Nathan Langley, Les Jordan, Adam Murchie and Gary Henderson. The stage was set for an interesting race with the visiting rider sure to add an unpredictable dimension to the race. The early pace and fast cornering soon saw Phillips, Hale and Jordan lose contact with the group and settle into their own tempo swapping one lap turns. Whilst unfamiliar with the circuit, Murchie kept the pace up and launched attacks in an attempt to unsettle his local opponents. Tankard also put in some solid turns to keep the pace high while Taylor kept his powder dry electing to conserve himself for the final sprint. Eventually, lack of race fitness saw Langley and then Henderson drifting off the back of the lead group and joining the chase group. Due to the combination of patient pace setting by the chase group and some cat & mouse tactics from the lead group, the field surprisingly reintegrated in the final stages. This prompted further attacks off the front resulting in the group repeatedly fracturing and regrouping. The race came down to a final sort out in the last lap which saw Tankard assuming the lead out position around the final corner into the short straight. Taylor, familiar with the required final sprint tactics, swung off Tankard's wheel to take the flag edging out a fast finishing Murchie and Langley.

The Club would like to thank Penny Hale, Gary Pitt and Harry Robbins for race administration and set-up. Thanks also to Tom Athorn for the work done to upgrade the timing system mat.

The next race will be an 8 km (one lap) ITT held on the Riverside circuit on Tuesday 19 January 2010. Chris Parrott and Dave Priest are on race set-up duty.

Race Results -

Pos Name Laps Actual Time
A Grade 45 Mins
1 Dean Taylor 39 0:50:26.4
2 Adam Murchie 39 0:50:26.5
3 Nathan Langley 39 0:50:27.3
4 Kevin Tankard 39 0:50:27.8
5 Les Jordan 39 0:50:28.7
6 Mark Phillips 39 0:50:30.3
7 Richard Hale 39 0:50:30.6
8 Gary Henderson 39 0:50:30.8

B Grade 43 Mins
1 Rob Akkermans 33 0:47:04.5
2 Garry Pitt 33 0:47:05.0
3 Arthur Anderson 33 0:48:21.1
DNF Barry Pollock 17 0:28:21.0 Puncture

C Grade 40 Mins
1 Taryn Heather 31 0:45:10.4
2 Ben Vagnarelli 31 0:45:58.1
3 Rachel Hanlin 30 0:46:07.2
4 Greg Scott 30 0:46:26.5
DNF Dene Carruthers 10 0:18:01.0 Puncture

D Grade 40 Mins
1 Ryan Clifford 29 0:39:45.6
2 Ken Dean 28 0:40:42.6
3 Michael Allford 28 0:40:44.5
4 Terry Miller 27 0:40:02.7
5 Alana Hale 27 0:40:25.0
6 Alison Curry 26 0:41:01.6

Juniors 30 Mins
1 Thomas Henderson 22 0:29:58.4
2 Nathan Jordan 21 0:30:10.0
3 Tom Allford 21 0:30:29.2
4 Megan Hale 19 0:30:11.8