Club members enjoyed a pleasant Saturday with racing from Mardan on an out and back run to Mirboo North. This is the shortest race on the fixture but is still a very tough race. There are 2 climbs on the return run which are on a steep gradient and quickly punish the legs. The scratch duo of Nick Aitken and Stuart Smith were away racing the Preston Mountain classic so the second scratch bunch became the back markers for the day for the 20 rider field.

The field was split into 5 bunches with the 4 rider limit bunch having a start of 9minutes, followed by 3 at 6 minutes, 3 riders at 4 minutes, 5 riders at 2 minutes and 5 riders in the scratch bunch. The scratch bunch welcomed a triathlete friend of Gavin Slavins, Greg Stewart into the fold. Greg is a former national tri champ and he was more than able to hold his own for this race.

The 2 outmarker bunches kept the pressure on with Rod Cheyne doing best over the hills riding away from the others to score an easy win and a time of 53.20 min. Peter Hollins and David Lumby managed to chase down the other limit markers and finish strongly with Peter Hollins liking the little rise just before the finish to give him a small break to claim second ahead of Malcolm Gin and Dave Lumby.

Next home was Rick Whitehouse, Kerry Pritchard and middle markers Tom Debenham, Elliott Gin and Morgan Clark. Rounding out the top ten was the first of the second backmarkers Kevin Feely. Fastest time and 14th place went to the visiting rider in Greg Stewart with a time of 46.53min.

In the Junior race, Will Lumby was a side line spectator after a recent operation and watched as Liam McCall fronted up for his first ride of the season and promptly dominated the race. Liam and Matt Dudley had a 30 sec start over Elliott Gin on the 10km race out to Nicholls Rd corner and back. Liam took to the climbs quickly dropping Matt to go alone for the win and fastest time. Next home was Matt Dudley just outsprinting Mitch Gin.

Next week racing will start from the Korrine tennis club rooms. However, the usual circuit may not be available as road works are scheduled for a section of the circuit. The aces at the Mountain Classic supported their team with strong rides but missed on the podium places

Race report by Lindsay Love