Club racing was a different format on Saturday. First up the members had a time trial followed by a hill climb up Mt Misery - a day against the clock. Whilst conditions at Outtrim were fine the riders had to battle a cold westerly wind, especially on the return leg of the time trial. The triathletes and keen time triallers were able to bring out their special time trial bikes for the day.

The senior riders raced from the recreation reserve to the Leongatha South junction and return. The outbound trip was good with a tail wind but the return included the climb and steady head wind. Riders started at minute intervals and Nick Aitken flashed over the 20km course in 28.02min. He was followed by visiting Footscray rider Matt Tippett in 29.46min. These were the only riders to get under 31minutes. There was a large group all on 31 minutes followed by another group on 32 minutes. In third place was Stuart Smith, 31.11min, 4th Kevin Feely 31.25, 5thThierry Rolland 31.34, 6th Tony Clark 31.39, 7th Gavin Slavin 31.46, 8th Eamon Feely 31.55, 9th Paul Taranto 32.07 and rounding out the top ten was Tom Debenham 32.15min.

On the 3 km climb up Mt Misery it was Nick Aitken scoring the double in 9.18min, Stuart Smith 2nd, 9.23, 3rd Thierry Rolland 9.45. They were followed by Ron Purtle, Matt Tippett, Eamon Feely, Paul Taranto, Kevin Feely, Tom Debenham and Tony Clark. With only a few more rides for the road season it has become tight at the top of the aggregate board with only about 11 points separating Paul Taranto and Kevin Feely. After Saturdays racing the points tally should be even closer.

In the Junior A grade the time trial was over 12 km and Morgan Clark continued his great recent form claiming the win in 20.46min just ahead of Tom Dudley by 6 sec in 20.52 whilst Elliott Gin was 3rd in 21.41. For the hill clim up 2km on Mt Misery it was Morgan winning from Elliott and Tom.

The Junior B grade riders had a 6km time trial and Jarrad Donohue claimed the win in 12.24 just ahead of Tom McFarlane in 12.36 with an even narrower margin on Mat Dudley at 12.40. Their hill climb up 1km to Short St saw a double to Jarrad from Tom and Mat.

Next week racing is around the tough Leongatha North circuit with racing starting at the Leongatha North tennis courts.

Race report by Lindsay Love