out and back… some turn times seem to have been missed. There are no milestones to note but maybe a course record to anticipate; even several, perhaps.
They've been setting off for almost thirty minutes—over half the field shows as 'started'. So, it'll be a little while until we see some times.
This area brings back memories of the days of the rides from 'Gingers', up Great Northern Hwy, turning at Muchea. The present strip lives up to the hope of excellent times even without the putative assistance of passing traffic; or the joys of trying to hold a line with a howling easterly blowing across the road…
The last man has just left the starter, will the first rider back be a woman? It shouldn't be too long before someone crosses the finish line; maybe ten minutes, maybe twenty. The current women's record will be a real challenge though, the men's record, even more so: 55min and 50min!
That's not a bad time: Mark Smith, back in 54min; Rachael Smyth is the first woman back: 58min. Is there anyone else who can challenge that 55min mark? Maybe.
Youngsters, 14 year-olds Danny Barton and Ava Rodgers are back as is the oldest rider, Ian Davies.
The women's record is safe, Rachael looks good to hold top spot for the girls. Sean Ralph, Road category record holder but riding TT rig now, has jumped to the top of the list displacing David Fargher and Shayne Dimmer who had turns up there. Matheos, last man off, is back so it looks like only a handful to come at best but, more likely, we have a few DNS; one of them is a known scratching.
We have one new record: Irena Baimatova on a road bike (1:04:56), the rest of the records stay intact. We'll see what the PB situation is.

Late correction to the story: Danny Barton and Ava Rodgers each established Junior course records.