By Jayman Prestidge
17/08/2014
Cycle racing is a journey, and this week of racing for Warragul Cycling Club members has seen their journeys spread as far as Mount Gambier in the West, to Bena in South Gippsland.
From young professional riders, to the ageing veteran, Warragul was well represented across the State.
The Far, Far West
In the far, far west, Brenton Jones and Kane Walker have been in cowboy style ‘smoking’ form whilst racing in the Tour of the Great South West Coast. An Elite race that is normally held in tough wet and windy conditions along parts of the Great Ocean road, our Warragul Elite Cyclists have had a fantastic week.
In fact Brenton ‘BJ’ Jones is in such scintillating form that he has taken out one of the biggest wins of his career to date by winning the General Classification category in the event, and hitting the podium on every stage. Riding as team sprinter for Australia’s premier domestic professional team, Avanti Racing, Brenton has shown his emerging talent again this week, with his canny criterium and sprinting skills being too good for his opposition.
Backed with a team of insanely fit ‘guns’ riding for him, Brenton has had the guns firing on all cylinders all week!
Kane ‘Carrotman’ Walker has raced with great consistency as well in The Tour of the Great South West Coast, and is clearly in a rich vein of form as he approaches the Tour of Gippsland that commences in Warragul on September 6, 2014. Kane rides as a worker for his team captain in the Western Australian ‘Satalyst Giant Racing Team’.
Victorian Masters Time Trial Championships
Whilst the young professional riders have been stuck in the West, the old racers of the Warragul Cycling Club have represented Warragul at the Victorian Masters Time Trial Championships held on the flat roads near Catani.
Time Trial cycling is a little like synchronised swimming is in the Olympic swimming program – there is a place for it, but it is not for everyone!
With riders riding ‘funny’ bikes with disc wheels, aerodynamic gloves, socks, helmets with visors, and very funny shaped handlebars, the non-cyclist would have wondered what they had come across in the back blocks of Catani on Saturday.
The idea of a Time Trial is to ride by yourself as fast as you can, on your ‘funny’ bike, from one point to another, and several Warragul members yielded great results in this ‘funny’ race of truth with highlights as follows:-
Robyn Baker – 2nd in Womens Masters 7
Samantha Abbot – 2nd in Womens Masters 3
Ray Rhodes – 1st in Mens Masters 9
Peter Denis – 12th in Mens Masters 4
Paul Yeatman – 11th in Mens Masters 3
Victorian Masters Road Championships
Hard racing saw over half the riders across all grades record DNF’s. One of those was Duane McDonald from Warragul in the Masters 3 race. The winner was former Joe Carmody trained athlete from Moe (now racing with St. Kilda), Julian Paynter.
Geoff Thomson finished twealth in the Masters 6 event over 82kms.
Trevor Rollinson hit the road in the 47km Masters 8-10 event and placed second. Ray Rhodes came in sixth.
Samantha Abbott backed up her TT placing with a first in the Womans Masters 1-3 event.
Robyn Baker was sixth in the Womans Masters 5-7 race.
The Deep South
For those members not into Time Trialling or not good enough to race in the far, far west, the only option remaining was to head to the South Gippsland township of Bena, where racing was held on a tight ‘Hotdog’ shaped criterium circuit.
A ‘Hotdog’ circuit is challenging, with two 180 degree turns at the end of every 600 metre straight. Certainly not a circuit for heavy riders, Rob Monk rode like he had ingested too many hotdogs before the start of the race, and finished in 8th position.
Shane Stiles launched attack after attack and was referred to as the ‘peanut’ of the race. Finishing in 4th position, his new bike with only 11 gears left him ‘spinning’ a little too fast to be able to beat a young Leongatha rider and hence missed out on a podium position.
Cyrus Monk, a young Warragul rider on the move up the ranks (who could have ridden in the far, far west) took out an easy victory.
Next week’s Club Racing is a Handicap Race starting at the Nilma-Darnum Football Club at 2.00pm. Come along – Handicap racing gives everyone a chance to win!
