A clear and sunny (but very chilly!) day greeted riders at Woodlands, for the 2nd race of the winter season and the 1st of the 2013 Winter Points Series races. With some fantastic looking leader’s jerseys up for grabs, (this year donning the very special Cycling Southland 50 year logo), the racing promised to be a jolly good show!
Division 1, 2 and 3 set off for two laps of the 32km circuit, with Division 4 racing over one lap.
After the first lap, the Division 1 field remained together, despite a number of attacks on the opening circuit. The bulk of the Division 2 bunch also remained together and Division 3 were looking comfortable and together after their respective first laps.
As the weather threatened to change - and reports of rain in town started arriving -Division 4 came into their sprint finish with a good turn of speed, with John Green comfortably taking the win from Nic Stevens while Kate Wilson took 3rd spot on the podium in a time of 1:03 as Helen McKenzie came in close behind for 4th.
Division 1 riders started to lay it down in the final 10km, with Alex McGregor and Brendan Akeroyd joining forces off the front 8km from the finish. Mathew Zenovich then bridged across to the pair and, with 4km to go, rode away to take the win solo. The remains of the bunch caught McGregor and Akeroyd before the finale, with Mike White taking out 2nd and Alex McGregor holding onto 3rd from an impressive Brendan Akeroyd. Despite the final placings, rider of the day went to Laura Fairweather, who not only finished in the top Division 1 bunch, but also rode aggressively and kept the boys honest. Good work LT!
Division 2 came down to a bunch finish with sprint ace Aaron Sinclair taking the win in a tight tussle with Wally Kopae and Bruce Jones 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Division 3 was also a tight finish, with Mark Day showing good form to take the win from Tim Maynard, the two just gapping a couple of fast finishing girls in Sam Kopae and Shirlene Rollo.
The weather held off and all up it was an excellent day, finished off with a well-earnt beverage at the Woodlands Tavern.
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Erin Criglington, the race manager for the day, and also our old faithful helper Robin Criglington, marshalls Ant Leathart, Ian Densie and Marty Lohrey.