Outtrim 23rd August 2014

Riders were able to enjoy a glorious Saturday afternoon for racing. However, the day was not quite as planned as a motor bike rider had crashed on our road circuit just on the Kongwak side of the Outtrim reserve.  Racing was rescheduled onto a different circuit but still with the uphill finish on Mt Misery.  Instead of racing through Kongwak, Lance Creek and Wattle Bank riders did 2 loops of Outtrim to Leongatha South prior to tackling the hill.

“The scratch trio of Brett, Clem and Brian…”

The senior field of 18 riders included an old Leongatha resident in Brian Sing back on holidays from WA.  The scratch trio of Brett Franklin, Clem Fries and Brian Sing gave away starts of 3 min to a trio, 5 minutes to a 5 rider bunch, 5 riders on 8 min and a duo on 14 minutes.  The flat terrain to Leongatha South resulted in some high speed riding which saw the limit riders picked up after 30km.  In addition there were others not handling the fast tempo.  After the 40km loop there was a bunch of 11 riders who hit the base of the Mt Misery.  At the finish line it was a sprint between Brett and Brian with Brett just grabbing the honours.  After this the riders limped of the line with individual efforts up the hill.  David Supple continued his great form with 3rd, then it was Clem Fries, Harrison McLean, Ronald Purtle, Garry Campbell, Rod Cheyne, Will Lumby and Tony Clark rounding out the top ten. Bretts time was 1hr, 8min 22 sec.

“…the scratch duo of Grace and Bernadette.”

The junior riders raced out to Hudsons Rd and return with the finish at Rileys Rd up Mt Misery.  Oliver McLean made a mockery of his disdain for riding hills as he bridged his 3 min gap to Tom Fitzgerald to tackle the hill in the lead.  Meanwhile the scratch duo of Bernadette Fitzgerald and Grace Fitzgerald had managed to chase down Alex Bennett and Matt Winchester.  Up the hill to the finish and it was a clear win to Oliver from Tom with a further gap back to Bernadette who finished in third and fastest.  She was followed in by Alex, Matt and Grace.

Last weekend some of the Masters riders raced the State Masters Time Trail championships.  Brett Franklin, Phil Handley and Rod Cheyne all got amongst the medals in the various age groupings.  Phil Handley was surprised at how serious some of the competitors were with their time trial bikes, heart rate monitors and aero helmets.

Next week racing is at Pound Creek with the seniors racing for the McIndoe Cup whilst the juniors will race for the Dancs Cup.
report by Lindsay.