Reports of calmer conditions at Browns on Saturday raised hopes that we might stay dry for the road race ... however, these hopes soon dissolved (into the driving wind!) when the hardy souls arrived in Browns to the same rain, hail and wind as town was experiencing. Many people were there out of respect for Tooms - and he would’ve been having a great laugh (and would’ve been quite chuffed), looking down on all the crazy folk willing to tough it out in his honour!
So a solid 43 riders braved the conditions and all those who started deserved a medal as conditions really were terrible. One rider registered an average temperature of 4 degrees for the entirety of the race! Despite this, there were hardly any complaints and I think Saturday was fine example of the toughness of Southlanders.
Rob Huisman was very dominant in Division 1, riding away from the rest of the field on the first lap and going on to win solo by 2:23. Mike White won the bunch sprint for 2nd from Tom Sexton, Brendan Akeroyd, Blake Tait-Jones, Aaron Sinclair, Neil Familton and Travis Kane.
In Division 2, Geoff van Dam and Dave Beadle made a decisive break on the first lap and toughed it out to the finish, with van Dam taking the sprint from Beadle, with the bunch 21 seconds back. Wayne Miller took the sprint for 3rd from Andrew Holden and Neil Sutherland.
In Division 3, Jack Pedlar had a brilliant ride to take the win from a strong Makayla Smith, with Alan Milne in 3rd, from Marty Lohrey, Shirlene Rollo and Sid Cumming.
A huge thank you goes out to race manager Bruce Jones – fresh back from holiday and still as keen as ever to help out! Also thank you to Robin Criglington, Ray Robinson, Steve Heywood, Mark Day and Ian Ballam (marshalls had the worst job of the day - standing on corners without moving to keep warm!) Also thanks to the Celtic Arms Tavern in Browns, for hosting us after the race.
Remember the club meeting this Tuesday night at 7.30pm, and also this coming weekend is the Memorial Weekend, with an earlier start than usual – 10.30am report for an 11am start, at McQuarrie Street. Entries close on Thursday at lunch time, and we will try to get marks up on the website on Friday. We will have the prizegiving afterwards in the Sarah Ulmer Lounge, and it would be great if everyone could please bring a plate to share. See you then!
Results:
Division 1
1 Rob Huisman 1:15:16
2 Mike White +2:23:61
3 Tom Sexton “ “
Division 2
1 Geoff van Dam 1:24:58
2 Dave Beadle “ “
3 Wayne Miller +.21
Division 3
1 Jack Pedler 1:37:00
2 Makayla Smith “ “
3 Allan Milne “ “