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Riverland Cycling Club
Glossop, South Australia, February 7, 2006
Wins for all ages in Riverland cycling
Winners came from all ages in Riverland cycling this past week as some of the Riverland Cycling Club's oldest and youngest riders produced triumphant rides.
Sunday's road race at Glossop saw Gordon Lawton, one of the club's longest serving members, hold off a chasing group to win the time/distance handicap event. His strong ride in good conditions was too good for his fellow competitors. Lawton's lead of nearly four minutes at the bell proved to be enough as a chasing group of three riders, consisting of John Eshman, Louise Nitschke and Michael Anderson, could only reduce the margin by three and a three-quarter minutes over the final 10.5km last lap. Michael Anderson, one of the club's newest and youngest riders and in his first road race, surged away from Eshman and Nitschke down the final straight to finish second while Nitschke kept her wheel in front of Eshman over the last 50m to cross the line in third place. Fastest time went to the in form Josh Steele. Steele produced a strong finish to beat Lee Stevens, his nearest fastest time rival, and impressed with a ride average of 38.5km/hr over the 42km course.
Tuesday night criterium produced some aggressive racing and great sprint battles. Hamish MacKirdy found himself back on the winners list with a typically strong sprint finish proving too good for a chasing Nigel Willoughby. Willoughby continues to impress his fellow A-grade riders and deserved his second placing. Josh Steele rounded off the A-grade placing's in third after an early puncture ruined his chances of a win. In B-grade, Angus Boase won a tight sprint battle from Mark Kershaw to claim first place and if a trophy were to be awarded for 'Most Aggressive' rider he would have won that too. Boase wasted no time in setting a fast and demanding pace, claiming an early scalp with last weeks winner Chris Stevens dropping off the group in the early stages.
Boase's early pace also caused Kershaw and Ben Vagnarelli to lose contact for a couple of laps but they worked their way back to the group. Boase was also the first rider to sprint for the line, which proved successful, holding off Kershaw and Lara MacKirdy down the final straight. The C-grade race produced a great sprint finish between the young guns of the club with Michael Anderson, 17, crossing the line in first place only metres in front of Matthew Benson, 14. Amanda Steele rode strongly to finish third, closely followed by Peter Weston in fourth. In D-grade, it was one of the club's oldest riders proving that experience counts for a lot with Bob Pankhurst winning from Simon Woods in a come from behind move in the final straight. Woods tried to surge away in the final lap but Pankhurst's experience got him sitting on his wheel and hence gained the advantage over the closing stages. Graham Butt and Gordon Lawton finished further behind in third and fourth respectively.
This coming week sees the winding up of the track season with start of the club's Track Championship taking place at Renmark this Sunday, and, also sixteen Riverland Cycling Club members taking part in Coast to Coast next Sunday. Coast to Coast is a cycling event organised by BikeSA, which takes participants on a 120km ride from Glenelg to Victor Harbour via Eagle on the Hill.
Results
1 Gordon Lawton 2 Michael Anderson 3 Louise Nitschke 4 John Eshman 5 Angus Boase 6 Josh Steele 7 Chris Stevens 8 Lee Stevens 9 Mick Grey 10 Peter Weston 11 Craig Ward 12 Ben Vagnarelli 13 Hamish MacKirdy 14 Angelo Ylia 15 Lara MacKirdy 16 Amanda Steele DNF Ruth Strout DNF Elton Reimann
