The club had a very warm night for racing on Friday night and given the heat and the public holiday it was great to have some good racing. The first event of the night was the 1 lap time trial and Ollie McLean clocked a new personal best to take his time down to 32.02 sec. Others in the senior division were Tom Fitzgerald at 35.12sec and Felicity Waddell at 38.44sec. In the junior crew, Renee Hardacre also clocked a new PB when she rode 48.84 sec. It was a close spread across the 4 juniors with Thomas Geary 47.88sec, Kate Geary at 48.41sec and Katie Geary at 48.59 sec.
The next race was a 6 lap scratch race for the senior division. Ollie McLean showed he was over his health issues from the previous week which meant he missed the state titles. A clear win to Ollie from Tom and Felicity. In the junior 3 lap race, Renee Hardacre rode the race from the front all the way and whilst challenged still held on to win from Thomas Geary and Katie Geary.
The time trial times made it difficult for the handicapper. In the senior group 1 lap dash, Ollie McLean (Scr) looked to be out of the running but a great acceleration through the 200m mark saw him flash home to grab the win ahead of Felicity(60) and Tom(30). The next time up, Felicity(75) was able to lead all the way with Tom(50) in 2nd and Ollie(scr) not able to repeat the effort.
In the junior 1lap handicap, Kate Geary(5) flew away at the start and quickly closed the gaps to go on and win from Katie Geary(15) and Renee Hardacre(scr). In the re-handicap, Tom Geary(25) made full use of his start to take the win from Renee(10) and Katie Geary(15).
The juniors were given a sprint heat and the first race saw Renee win from Katie whilst in the second heat Kate Geary was too quick for Tom Geary. The riders then had some novelty events on the grass. From slow races to one-legged efforts for the seniors against the juniors with both legs. Plenty of tumbles on the grass and much laughter was a lighter touch for everyone.
To finish the night there was another round of scratch races. The seniors raced a 6 lap race and Ollie controlled affairs to win from Tom and Felicity whilst in the junior 3 lap race Kate Geary raced home for the win ahead of Katie Geary and Renee Hardacre.
Training is scheduled for Wed night so hopefully with school back and holidays over, there should be a broader spread of riders attending.
Lindsay
updated 9am 25th Sept.
