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Queensland State Road Titles
Kingsthorpe, QLD, July 16 & 17, 2005
By Cycle MOK
Individual TT - July 16
The Queensland State Titles for 2005 would be contested 100km outside of Brisbane in Kingsthorpe. Located 10km west of Toowoomba, Kingsthorpe would offer two courses for the athletes to tackle both the ITT and the Road Race in an area known for high winds and heavy, undulating roads.
Not to disappoint, Saturday's ITT would see very strong northerly winds sweeping the 35km course. Beginning at the Kingsthorpe State School, the riders would start out on a 3% 1.5 km rise that levelled out for only a brief period before continuing over undulating terrain for the next tailwind assisted 11km. At this point there was the women's turn around whilst the Men would continue around a gnarly loop.
Male riders would then turn left for several more undulating, heavy cross wind effected kilometres then take another left for what were purely torturous head cross winds. Whilst this would offer some respite for the fact that this was the only flat section, the wind would further strengthen whilst riders zig zagged back to the main road that brought them out. The hurt was really put on as the next 7km was directly into a disgusting headwind over the up and downs that took the riders out in the first place.
Represented at the event were the teams of host club Toowoomba CC, Team Healthworks, Flight Centre, Life Cycle, MB Coaching, Mackay CC, CATS, Ffast and UNI of Queensland for the male athletes whilst in the female event Victor Cycles, Uni of Queensland and MB Coaching, Albury Wadonga and Rockhampton CC were contesting the medals. Among the female contingent, many of the athletes cut their teeth as part of the Queensland Academy of Sport's talent identification squad headed by Liz Hepple, adding to the desire to hang the Gold 'bling' from the strongest woman's neck.
The men were the first to set off with Leighton Jefferson of Team Healthworks having his disc entertain the spectators as he roared past in his quest for a medal. Continuing up the 1.5 km start would see rider after rider gather their speed with the asitance of an ever increasing wind speed with proven TT riders of Nathan Waddell (Flight Centre) and Kai Rothlisberger (MB Coaching) taking to the testing 35km circuit. Pre-race favourite Peter 'kilohertz' Herzig (UNI) was the last rider to take on the course in his quest for the State Title.
Herzig was simply amazing. Having placed fifth in the Open Road Titles in January, Herzig passed riders along the way, recording the fastest splits at every point. Considering the winds, his time of 46.02 minutes for the 35km was fantastic. Kai Rothlisberger and Brendan O'Connell were both recording similar times along the course but it would be Rothlisberger of MB coaching in the final 7km who put 31 seconds into O'Connell of Lifecyle to take second, with O'Connell finishing third.
The female event, covering 22km out and back would see some very strong TT proven riders in Liz Young of MB Coaching, Sally Cowman of Fresh Cycling go head to head. Add to this the QAS talent ID squad and we were in for a real treat. Cowman and Young would be within seconds of each other the entire race. At the turn around their split was almost identical, with the final 11km seeing a max of 12seconds separating these two gun women. At 500m to go, their split was equal and by the time they crossed the finish line, time keeping would show less than 1 second separating Cowman and Young with the Queensland State ITT title awarded to Sally Cowman of Fresh Cycling. Emma Mackie of the QAS ID Squad coming in 3rd at 2.08min of the pace.
Road Races - July 17
At 9am, the elite men would set out over a 26km undulating circuit that took in several long dragging climbs and one significant 1.5km climb. At the end of the ascent, riders would then descend for 3km before some steady climbing back to the Start/Finish area. The finish was a 300m down hill sprint heavily affected by a cross headwind. In all the men's field would take in 160km of dead country Queensland roads made all the more difficult by the wind and the desire for competitors to hold a high race pace.
Clubs from all over the state were represented, with 2004 state Champion Kurt Dutton (Healthworks), current State Criterium Champion Mark Frendo (UNI), 2005 Metro Road race Champion Anthony Kellen of the well represented Flight Centre Squad all ready to do battle to claim the State Title. Also lining up was Peter Herzig to strengthen the UNI club's chance at the Gold.
From the start, Grant Gaston (Healthworks), Shem Guthrie (Flight Centre) and local Hayden Brooks (Toowoomba CC) set off down the road with the group happy for them to put time in. Working well and with 20km into proceeding the riders were met with the same block headwind that graced the Time trial of the previous day. With 2min 20secs on the bunch, the trio would have a hard day out ahead of them. At 20km, Tremain Permwewan (Victors) Andrew Wilkinson and Adrian Booth (Healthworks) Chris Pryor and Ben VanDerKamp (Ffast) and Cameron Rogers (Flight Centre) would attack into the headwind gapping the group but only being allowed a maximum of 15seconds on the group.
With the bunch reeling in the would be attackers, Adrian Booth (Healthworks) and Cameron Rogers (Flight Centre) would again attack to join the leading trio with the bunch happy to let them get the gap. A further 20 km of hard chasing would see the two reach the initial break of three meaning both Flight Centre and Healthworks represented with two riders and then Brooks of Toowoomba CC. The group of 5 continued working but the effort required to hold a max gap of 2min 35 seconds was beyond reach of these men and at 115km mark the break would be brought back due to some good chasing of Peter Garrone and Mark Frendo of UNI
Groupo Combatto for the next 10km until the base of the climb where 2004 State champ Kurt Dutton (Healthworks) upped the tempo splitting the field and waving the smack paddle around willy nilly. On his wheel Peter Herzig followed by Tenthill Classic winner Brendan Hill (MONDIAL Insurance) and Matthew Newlands (Healthworks). Herzig would accelerate past Dutton taking Hill and Newlands with him and the trio maintained the gap over the top of the climb and whilst descending, increase their gap to what would be the winning move.
On the descent, move after move attempted to bridge to the flying trio but with no result other than the meeting of riders to headwind and riders to the back door. Athlete after athlete would be spat as the combination of fast, hard climbing, fruitless counters and three amazingly strong riders in Herzig, Hill and Newlands turned the male field into a race of attrition. In the final lap, 9 riders would remain with Herzig (UNI) Hill (MONDIAL) and Newlands (Healthworks) at the head of affairs, chased by Grant Irwin (Rockhampton CC) Chris Pryor of Ffast, Mark Frendo and Peter Garrone of UNI, Stuart Cowin (Merida) and Kurt Dutton and Adrian Booth (Healthworks). Stuey Cowin would pull out at the feed.
In a very successful weekend, Peter Herzig would again be the victor in the Road Race, adding to his gold in the ITT, just too strong for Hill and Newlands. Moving away on pure strength at the right time, Herzig would win very comfortably 30 seconds in front of Brenda Hill and a further 12 seconds to Matthew Newlands
Special thanks to the SES volunteers and the admin staff of Cycling Queensland. The Queensland Police Service was also very supportive of the event as too, the township of Kingsthorpe. Special mention of the 'Yorker', Mr Peter York, for his sterling efforts over the weekend; you're awesome. Thanks to all competitors for fair and hard racing.
