Hornsby to Swansea Cycle Classic, September 19, 1999

Report:

Jeremy Hunt wins, Eddie Salas shows great form

By Jeff Jones, cyclingnews.com correspondent

With approximately 110 starters and a sprinkling of Aussie and British pros, this years "Westfield Shoppingtown Hornsby to Swansea 189 km Cycle Classic" promised to be a great event. Mr perpetual motion of cycling, Eddie Salas, was definitely on form, having placed 1st and 2nd in the lead up criteriums held on the previous two days - but could he hold off the challenge from the likes of British riders Jeremy Hunt, Dan Smith, and Colin Sturgess? Not forgetting Aussie pro in good form, Ben Brooks.

The course is a great one in my opinion - including three 3-4 km steady climbs, numerous shorter, steeper ones, a hairy descent of Bumble Hill, and generally decent roads to ride on for 189 km. It was calm at first, but the wind picked up later on into a stiff headwind.

After a warmup that involved riding the 50-odd meters from the car park to the start line, we endured a half-hour wait before finally rolling out behind a marching band(!), doing a lap of the town, and then onto the Pacific Highway for the official start. There was, of course an early break that included Caravello riders Henk Vaassen and Stuart Terrell, Dan Smith (GB), Wayne Anderson (Sutherland), and Nic Brown and Tom Brook from the Parramatta team. They were gunning for the KOM points that were on offer for just the first half of the race. "Let 'em go! They'll die in the hills" to use a well known quote...

On the descent into the Hawkesbury River (well, not quite into) there was a nasty looking crash at 65 km/h in which several riders came down, though I'm unsure if anywhere seriously hurt. There followed the first climb up to Mt White at 25 km - steepish at the bottom, but only 3 km or so long. I surprised myself by actually staying with the bunch up here for the first time ever, though there weren't too many attacks. Sure beats 20 km of chasing!

We turned right at a couple of houses named "Calga" and descended down to Mooney Mooney creek, though thankfully there were no more crashes. The pace was upped a bit on the 4 km climb of the other side, with Ben Brooks and Eddie Salas riding strongly at the front, but the breakaways still had 2 minutes on us at the top. I actually drifted off the back a little but managed to regain the peleton before the top (ouch). Ouch again for the next 20 km over very dead roads and short, steep hills, as Jeremy, Ben and Eddie took turns in doing sprint-interval training.

Then it was back around for another crack at Mooney Mooney after a lap of 40 km. I finally had something to eat and felt a lot better for it. Indeed, the 2nd time up the climb I had no trouble, though both the bunch and I were getting thinner. Over the top, and we still hadn't caught the break and things started to split up, with me being in the back group (of course). I missed getting a drink at the feed zone but figured I'd still be ok with a big bottle to last the final 80 km.

There was a general regrouping before we turned right at Peat's Ridge to head towards the dreaded Bumble Hill at around 120 km. The break was finally caught before Bumble but they looked annoyingly fresh to me. Although Bumble hill is potentially quite dangerous for a large bunch of cyclists to descend - steep, twisty, loose and corrugated surface - there were no catastrophes this time. At least we didn't have to go up the damned thing!

The next 20 km down the valley was quick and involved a lot more attacking by the usual suspects - give it a rest guys! You don't have to impress me. We then took a left-hander onto Hue Hue road (140 km) before rejoining the Pacific Hwy at 160 km. On the last of 3 climbs before the highway, I got shouldered from the middle of the bunch to the right hand side of the road, unfortunately pushing the two guys next to me off into the gravel. I had to stop for a bit and attempted to chase but my race was long over anyway. I did the last 25 km alone, just avoiding total disintegration but was happy to have got that far.

Although there were several more breakaway attempts (sorry I can't be more explicit, but my long range vision was not working very well), the headwind put paid to all of them and the race ended up in a 40-odd bunch kick. Jeremy Hunt complained of tired legs after the race, but he had enough left in them to get over Eddie Salas and Brent Dawson, with National Series leader, Peter Milostic 4th, and Gary Heagney taking 5th. Jeremy was a very worthy winner of the race, showing great attacking form throughout. He's definitely looking to be 'on song' for the Commonwealth Bank Classic next month. The KOM competition was a dead heat on points, with 1st place being awarded to Dan Smith (GB) from Henk Vaassen (Caravello) and Nic Brown (Parramatta) rounding out the top 3.

All in all, another great edition of the "Hornsby to Swansea" and I hope you enjoyed this insider's report!

Results:

Hornsby to Swansea, 189km, 110 starters

1    Jeremy Hunt (GB)
2    Eddie Salas (Penrith Panthers)                         
3    Brent Dawson (Dubbo)                   
4    Peter Milostic (Penrith Panthers)                           
5    Gary Heagney (MUCTC)                  
6    Nash Kent (North Sydney)                        
7    Ben Litchfield (Turra)                         
8    Stuart May (North Sydney)                            
9    Simon Gerrins                        
10   Bart Hickson (Carav)                  
11   Matthew Tuck (VIC)                           
12   Cameron Jennings (QLD)        
13   Cameron Hughes (Parra)                     
14   Gary Oliver (Manly)                  
15   Gary Chapman (North Sydney)                 
16   David Hiley (Manly)                      
17   David McPartland (Wagga)        
18   Wayne Anderson (Suth)                     
19   Andrew Payne (Penrith Panthers)                           
20   Kelvin Martin (Carav)              


King of the Mountains

1   Dan Smith (GB) 
2   Henk Vaassen (Carav)
3   Nic Brown (Parra)
4   Wayne Anderson (Suth)
5   Stuart Terrell (Carav)


1st B grader: Gary Oliver (Manly)
1st C grader: Matthew Price (Suth)


Swansea Criterium, 17th September

1   Eddie Salas (Penrith Panthers)
2   Robert Tighello (VIC)
3   Trent Wilson (Parra)


Hornsby Criterium, 18th September

1   Brent Dawson (Dubbo)
2   Eddie Salas (Penrith Panthers)
3   Trevor Poad (NZ)