By Saturday evening, when the last update to the start list was posted, winter ills, injuries and, among other things, dire predictions from the weather bureau had whittled down 187 pre-registrations to just 138; a little more than half, 75, arrived on the start line. It was 'cool' (10º inside the timing hutch) and the track was damp but there was only a fairly light (?) breeze blowing and it stayed dry through to about 9:20am when a brief shower arrived with the sun still shining through light clouds to the north-east. So there were quite a few on-the-fly revisions to the start order; we had caught up with most of them on the posted results about the time the last rider finished his 4 laps.

And there were PBs to be found: riding four laps for a change from his usual eight, Stu Helm found one; he was first to sign on, among the first to finish and grabbed and held onto the number 1 ranking through to the end. Lisa Tidbury found 2km/h and shaved 2min from her previous—her first ride with us, twelve months ago. Two-lappers, Saxon Adams and Matthew Connan trimmed the times of their previous efforts over the distance. Matthew's big bro, Lachlan, couldn't quite manage that on his 4 laps but, nevertheless, was fastest of the 'JM' bunch and nicely rounded out the 40km/h cohort.

And for the first time in a few years we again had a Penny-farthing on the course—a big blue beast this time, ridden by Peter Taplin. With a trike, a hand-cycle (Neil was the sole HC rep today), and a generous sprinkling of road bikes among the serious TT beasts, "TTs are for everyone" was an apt comment—a remark posted on FB.

Our helpers deserved all the rider-gratitude they could get today; they always do. Troy arrived and had the tents up and was signing the course well before the sun showed any sign of rising and riders started to trickle in. Nina White and Cat Dixon were at the rego desk when Stu arrived to sign on; Lorraine had the desk set up before she went across to the start line with Lorna Henson to help her. Travis George was despatched to marshal the far end of the course while Janice Graham took charge of the bridge crossing. John Andrews was our number caller.

Kumar brought his coffee van and probably most people were also grateful for that; I was, several times over.