It was a great night for the final race of our series.  Warm and sunny, the wind died down as the race started. 15 racers took the line for the final race.  Among them were both James and Kevin, with only a single point separating them for the lead in the series they were ready to fight it out.

The race started with two neutral laps at the request of senior rider Norm Thibault.

With the neutral laps done the pace picked up sharply with lap times dropping to a minute and half.  The bell was rung for the first prime on lap 8 as I stood by the lapboard holding a bottle of Whitesails Snake Island ale in the air.  The thirstiest rider to pay attention was James Grant who easily took the sprint while the rest of the pack continued on at pace.  From there several attacks were launched but were all quickly pulled back into the pack.  No one wanted a repeat of the race where they let 4 riders get away and lap the field several weeks ago.

The second prime was on lap 19.  Surprisingly Sean Lunny and James Sage took that sprint by a substantial margin.  I say surprising because they typically wait until after the sprint to attack when everyone is coasting through to recover.  Kevin Park was third over a second back, pushing furiously to keep in contact with James and Sean.  He probably didn't want to contest the sprint, but with only 1 point separating them in the series he couldn't afford to let them get away.

On lap 30 newcomer Tim Butler put in a serious attack on the pack opening up a six second lead on the main bunch which he held for 2 laps.

At three laps to go Sean Lunny came to the front and turned up the pace trying to create a separation for James to get away but the pack remained close together.

On the final lap it seemed that everyone sat up to let James and Kevin fight it out on their own as the two of them rolled into sight with no one else around.  But Kevin had the kick left in his legs to take it to the line getting the win.

Full race Results can be found here.

Click here for results

Series Standings can be found

HERE

Huge thanks to our volunteers for making this happen.  Without these boys and girls standing on the corners in the hot sun we couldn't have these events.  Peter McCaffrey, Graeme Copp, Kirby Villeneuve, Stephen and Barb Mohan

We're back racing next on thursday with our 20km Club Challenge Time Trial

Followed by next Tuesday the start of our Arrowsmith Hill Climb series Witchcraft lake hill climb, more details to follow.

Dodgey weather forecast with threatending skies kept alot of racers away but it was dry on NRR lastnight for the MIVA/Rock City Cycles 20K TT.  Although the temperature dipped to 12 degrees that didn't stop some from achieving a personal best

Congrats to:

Craig Rutherford

Peter Richards

Matthys Redelinguys

Prize

The winner of the Rock City gift card was Peter Richards for coming within 2 seconds of his estimated time.  Way to go Peter!

 

Results

Top 3 men:

James Sage dominated in a time of 28:58 followed by Matthys Redelinguys with a speedy time of 31:46 and Stephen Moran in 33:45.

Top 3 women:

Janna Gillick commanded over the women's race with a time of 31:17 followed by Lorrie Baildham in 34:23 and Jamie Ollson in 36:06

Full results here: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=142547

Thanks to Steve Ollson for manning  the turn around,  Lee Zavarise for starting the racers and Patrick for timing.  👏

 

Next week is the interclub 20K challenge so come out and race with a team.

 

We had fourteen racers turn out tonight for the second last Crit of the season. We almost cancelled tonights crit as we only had two volunteers for the corners.  At the last minute Jesse Manner stepped up and stood on the corner of Meredith and Tulsa in Iain Hays flip-flops to allow the race to go on.  As thanks Jesse along with our other two marshalls, Graeme and Autumn, have all been entered into our Draw for some sweet prizes from our Sponsors.  Prizes like an Easton EC90 wheelset or a shiny new matching set of Helmet and Shoes from Arrowsmith bikes or some snazzy Sugoi wet weather gear from Coal City Cycles.

The pace started slow with two neutral laps to ease into the race for the benefit of our Junior riders like Max making his first appearance this year.  After that the pace jumped up sharply with lap times dropping from 2 min down to a minute 38 on our 1.1km course.

At ten laps in things got interesting with Iain Hay attacking off the front and gaining a 5second lead.  He held the pack off for two laps before being dragged back into the bunch.  Where he remained for another lap before flatting and having to abandon the race.

On Lap 17 the bell was rung for the prime which went Nathan Walsh from RDR with the Grant brothers, Mark and James, close behind him.  While the pack did get quite strung out after the prime, they quickly regrouped with no one looking to take advantage and attack as we quite often see.

On Lap 21 newcomer Harry Reddin attacked off the front opening up a ten second gap.  Sensing that he was no threat the rest of the riders let him sit out front in the wind by himself before slowly reeling him back in.

With 8 laps to go James Sage and Sean Lunney poured on the gas and with the help of Nathan Walsh opened up a sizeable lead pulling away a little further with each lap until they had a 20 second lead with four laps to go.  Realizing what was happening the main bunch started working together to try and reel them in.  With one lap to go the gap was back down to 4 seconds but by that time it was too late and the three riders were in the clear for a sprint finish which went to Nathan Walsh by less than half a wheel.

Thanks to all the riders for coming and thanks again to the volunteers who come out to make these races happen.

Full Results here

Next weeks race will be the final race of the season. Double points and double primes.  Come out and race or come out and cheer.  Either way Come out and have some fun.

What a fantastic night for the MIVA Rock City Cycles 15K Time Trial held on Grafton Road.  With almost no wind to battle and some freshly paved blacktop the 19 riders achieved some smoking fast times.

All the riders who did the first 15K TT on Grafton back in May achieved a personal best on the course tonight.

A whopping 14 PB's.

Congrats to:

Jack Mace

Mary-Jo Mace

Fabian Poulin

Tamara Zavarise

Al Shirley

Jamie Ollison

Lorrie Baildham

Patrick Burnham

Paul Connor

Stephen Mohan

Lee Zavarise

Iain Hay

Andrew Speed

James Sage

A prize (MIVA socks) went to Stephen Mohan  who's actual time was one second off his estimated time.  Sweet!

Top 3 men:  James Sage in 20:41, Andrew Speed 21:25 and Iain Hay in 22:02

Top 3 women:  Janna Gillick 22:35,  Lorrie Baildham 24:26 and Jamie Ollison in 25:56

See final results here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=141681

Hats off to the Arrowsmith Bike Club who volunteered to marshal at the intersections and keep us all safe and thanks to Patrick for his timing expertise.

The rain was threatening and we felt a few drops but it held off for the  MIVA/Rock City Cycles 40K Interclub challenge.  Unfortunately a few of the team riders could not make it so luckily others were able to step in for them.

The season of time trials were paying off in spades for some of the riders who came away with a PB on the course.

Congrats to:

Stephen Mohan

Mattys Rhedelinghuys

Gary Argyle

Paul Callow

 

One of the most difficult races to pace yourself the 40K TT.   Some riders were able to achieve a negative split where the 2nd 20K was faster than the first 20K. 

Way to go:

Erin Biddlecomb

Mattys Rhedelinghuys

Lee Zavarise

Fabian Poulin

For the men:

James the rocket Sage came close to his personal best with a time of 59:36  and he did it with an separated shoulder.  Talk about tough!  2nd was Stephen Mohan in 1:06 and in 3rd Mattys Rhedelinghuys in 1:07

For the women:

Lorrie Baildham was first with a time of 1:09,  2nd place was Jamie Ollson in 1:14 and Erin Biddlecomb in 1:20

 

Full results here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=140721

 

Thanks to Patrick for his amazing timing skills and race setup and to Steve Ollson for manning the turn around.