Saturday the club had its first race around a new circuit and it proved to be a tough day and a circuit for the fittest riders. The circuit started at the Woolamai race track, raced north through Glen Forbes out to the junction with the Bass Highway before doing a 180 degree turn to race back through Glen Forbes and up the "Gorge" back to the Archies Creek corner before climbing back up Mill Rd and down to the finish at the race track - a distance of 38km. The 20 riders were places with 2 on scratch - Nick Aitken and Stuart Smith, 5 riders on 3 minutes, 5 riders on 5 minutes, 6 riders on 9 minutes with the limit riders being on 12 and 20 minutes. A cold north westlerly was blowing. Nick Aitken was just back from his Canadian racing where he had placed 2nd overall in his second tour event which was a fantastic effort.

The 9 minute bunch of Morgan Clark, Damien Crowe, Steve Wilson, Kerry Pritchard, Neil White and Kevin Feely had good tempo over the undulations before the climb. However, on the climb, Kevin Feely set a high tempo which soon split the bunch with only Neil White and junior rider Morgan Clark managing to reach the top with him. In the 5 minute bunch Tom Debenham, Ronald Purtle and Steve Piasente also pedalled strongly up the climb dropping the other riders. The 3 minute bunch lost some impetus before the climb as David McFarlane punctured. The scratch duo also powered up the hill closing down much of the handicap.

The long down hill run back to the Archies Creek corner allowed riders some recovery before the uphill run and headwinds of Mill Rd had to be tackled. On the last of the hills Kevin Feely again powered away from his co-markers and rode home with a minute back to the next riders to claim a convincing win. Tom Debenham showed his liking for the hills as he and Ronald Purtle also powered up the hills to come in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Steve Piasente and Eamon Feely both broke chains on the climbs back up Mill Rd whilst looking in positions to finish well up in the results. Next home in 4th and fastest was Stuart Smith in 64.23min. He brought Thierry Roland (3 min)with him to claim 5th. In 6th it was Neil White, Nick Aitken in 7th, Morgan Clark 8th just beating home his father in 9th whilst Kerry Pritchard once again managed a top ten finish.

The riders had enjoyed the challenge of the new course but some suggested that it be kept for Olympic years only. It certainly suited those who were light and who could climb hills. Next week racing is at Pound Creek for the running of the McIndoe Cup - a scratch race event.

Race report by Lindsay Love