An early Saturday morning saw the riders assemble for the annual Hill climb title, racing from Leongatha to the top of the hill at Mt Eccles. Fortunately for all concerned, the sun was shining and there was next to no wind so it was a great morning to be on the bike. The field set out at a pace that saw the field reach the climb up through Hannam’s bush all in-tact. However, that signalled the start of hostilities. Leigh Stott moved away perhaps trying to give himself a chance of matching Will Lumby and Oliver McLean up the main climb. As the riders raced up the first part of the Mt Eccles climb, Will and Oliver raced away and attacked each other up the climb. Oliver opened up a small gap on the climb just past Amiets Rd and held the gap until rounding the bend with just 80m to the finish. Will Lumby had chased hard and surged to the front to win the sprint to the line in a time of 32min 14 sec. In 3rd place at 33.04 min was Leigh Stott. Thomas Fitzgerald finished 4th in 35.55min whilst Peter Mclean was 5th in 37.26min just ahead of Rod Cheyne 37.45min. Club President Mark Bensley rolled over in 7th and 40.34min with Peter Lewis close by in 41.03min. Bernadette Fitzgerald also rode well to finish in 41.10min whilst the lantern rouge rider was Kerry Fitzgerald in 50.26min.
Next weekend club racing is scheduled for Sunday morning with racing running from Tarwin Lower to Walkerville and return. With the warmer weather arriving conditions can be really great out for a ride. However, it also heralds the start of magpie season so ride with a helmet on.
Lindsay
updated 9am 25th Sept.
