Great to see a big turnout of riders for the Talbot Forest Cheese sponsored road race on Saturday afternoon.
The Cycling Southland graded event attracted a total field of 70 riders and was raced in cool but reasonably calm conditions on the Gorge Road – Mokotua circuit.
The A grade saw a field of fourteen riders competing and after the first lap, Navarh Brotherston and Ben Hogan had established a break but this was eventually shut down mid-way through the second lap. Brotherston, along with Josh Haggerty went on the attack again but were reeled back in by the chasing bunch with 10km of the race remaining. Matt Zenovich then turned on the power but was unable to break clear and into the finishing straight, Hamish Keast jumped clear to win the event with good rides coming from Hunter Gough and Navarh Brotherston to fill second and third placings respectively.
The B grade event featured a big bunch of twenty two riders and this stayed largely intact for the entirety of the 64km event. Approaching the finish line, Steve Keast sprinted clear to take the win from Josh Miller and Aaron Sinclair.
Similarly the C grade stayed together for their event with Brook Armishaw sprinting clear to take the win with a close finish for the minor money seeing Shirlene Rollo narrowly edging out Max Anderson with Kris Milne the fourth rider to finish.
Cody Harvey proved too strong for the D grade event with Ronan Shearing finishing in second place with a good ride coming from newcomer Hyrum Raivaru to take third spot.
The E grade attracted a field of eight riders and was raced over 18kms. Conrad Clark took the event from Ben Mulholland with Caitlin Kelly taking third spot ahead of Hadley Sheehy.
Results:
A Grade
- Hamish Keast
- Hunter Gough
- Navarh Brotherston
- Josh Burnett
- Josh Haggerty
B Grade
- Steve Keast
- Josh Miller
- Aaron Sinclair
- Alistair Green
- Jake Willis
C Grade
- Brook Armishaw
- Shirlene Rollo
- Max Anderson
- Kris Milne
- Tim Maynard
D Grade
- Cody Harvey
- Ronan Shearing
- Hyrum Raivaru
- Reuben Heslip
- Rhylee Akeroyd
E Grade
- Conrad Clark
- Ben Mulholland
- Caitlin Kelly
- Hadley Sheehy
- Jack McLeod
Thanks to the marshals for the day Ray Robinson, Allan Milne, Jamie McIntyre and Kenny Burns, Robin Criglington for his registration /judging and Lindsay Jones STMS. Special thanks to the parents of the junior riders for acting as lead and tail vehicles for the D & E grade events and other race duties.
Report courtesy of Race Manager Bruce Ross