Many of the riders in the Saturday races at Woodlands may have been unaware of the illustrious company that they were riding amongst. There was our current double World Masters Champion Erin Criglington, former World Masters Road Champion Barry Harcourt, New Zealand pursuit team member at the 2004 Athens Olympics – Matt Randall plus Glen Thomson – gold medallist in the Points Race at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games. A field of Champions and future Champions combined.
Great to see good numbers competing on Saturday and this certainly led to some close and competitive racing. In particular, the finish of the Division 3 event which saw three riders finishing within half a bike length was spectacular especially when you threw in the sound effects from the winner Marty Lohrey. Marty’s rendition of an impersonation of a constipated cow was outstanding and gained special mention at the prize giving at the Woodlands Tavern. Marty was closely followed in by Shane Fletcher & Griffyn Spencer.
Division 1 was jammed packed with 20 riders eager to prove their skills. They took off with a hiss and a roar and didn’t seem to ease off until the finish. Only loosing 3 riders off the back, the group remained tight until Luke Macpherson sprinted off to guarantee himself the win; hot on his heels were Matt Randall & 3rd Glen Thompson.
Division 2 with a solid field of 9 worked together nicely and took turns chasing each other down – Bruce Jones showing off his skills with a couple of attacks, Neil Familton proving he is someone to contend with – winning by more than a couple bike lengths, followed by Steve Brough (a loyal member who comes down from Queenstown to compete with us), then Andrew Holden taking 3rd place.
Division 4 was filled with members that show up week in and week out, ready for another hit out amongst them Barry Harcourt. Setting a decent pace the group worked well together and made for an exciting sprint from a long way out with Nicola Stevens taking an impressive win, Wayne Murchland right behind her and closely followed by Kate Wilson.
This weekend we even had a Division 5 which was made up of Social riders and Juniors, with the aim of riding together and racing the last couple of kms. This made for a very close finish with everyone giving their best effort. Glen Ferguson took the win, followed by Helena Rikiti and Josh Miller collecting 3rd.
Once again thank you Woodlands Tavern for your support. It was great to see some many out there all with smiles on. We look forward to catching you at this weekend’s race in Browns.