Race Report

I didn't hear any complaints about the riding conditons and thirty five riders circling at 40km/h or better says that life on the events path was probably OK. It was a bit foggy as the sun rose but that cleared quickly and the flag was content to hang loose for most of the time.

And, on International Women's Day, what better result could be asked for than Steff VanA scoring a PB (at 41.2km/h) to lead the girls' rankings and also grab fourth place on Standards rankings? Each time through the finish, she looked, and clearly was, FAST!
The five top dogs all had to ride PBs to get themselves a place in that elite group but it was noted that Stu's 47km/h only just held off, by a mere three seconds on Standard Times, a raging Joe Grasso. Incidentally, we're now using the 2019 revision of the Standards tables.

Patrick S-W couldn't afford to spend too much time at Champion Lakes this morning so he trimmed the best part of a minute from his previous and rode off home to rest up for five minutes before lining up for this afternoon's Subi Crit (The Ring). What has Stuart Murray been doing that he can find that his previous 5-lapper carried seven-and-a-half minutes extra weight? Camilla Swensen's five minute PB is not to be scoffed at either. Well Done! For some time, every ride he does, David Thompson has been adding his name to the PB list and today he reached another target: 45km/h. He says he should now retire. I don't think that's going to happen… And before any of them got moving, young Oscar Barratt was out on course, trimming 1:45 from his previous, his first, 10km time.

The 40km Champs in a few weeks time will be interesting with Matty Burton closing in on Oli Stenning's Champion Lakes 40km record today – the challenge is on with Freebs registered, and of course Stu Helm; the verbal sparring is well established. The 40km Championships will also be the start of the opportunities for our local para-cyclists to start scoring points for the NPS series this year; three of them riding PB times this morning is a fairly good lead-in. Hayden was content to ride a leisurely 39km/h pace today, enjoy his birthday and wait to tackle something with a bump or two in the course profile.

The women definitely showed the way on the helper list today: Simone Wright and Sabine Bird were behind 'The Desk'; Lorraine on the start line; Jessie Alexander called and recorded bib numbers for the back-up timing while Deb Kempe did a superb job controlling the bridge crossing. Tom Alexander assisted Lorraine and the other blokes, Stewart Gee and Mike Halls, kept things under control down in the south while Mark Berry manned the exit for the first shift. Steve Oates had managed the helper list, done the course set-up and, after a 40km/h 8-lapper (a PB), packed it down again. And Amos dispensed his coffee. Thank you all - a great morning's effort.