Thurs Morning Women Go 1, 2, 3

19/09/2015

By Rob Monk

Thanks to our sponsor - Voyage Fitness
Thanks to our sponsor – Voyage Fitness

Every Thursday Morning for past year Macca Parkinson, Adele Whelan and Mariah Dastey have set off  at 5.55 am for their morning training ride. They beat the boys to Sturs Rd and then hang on the back to Yarragon. Macca used to need help to stay on but Mariah and Adele now don’t need to wait for her any more. She now helps Adele. It was fitting that these three training buddies formed the podium of the handicap on Saturday. Appropriate reward for hard work.

Macca and Mariah were joined in the limit group by Kerryn Milner and “Captain Mainwaring” John Van Heuven. John is the leader of another regular Thursday morning group known as Dads Army. They had 14.5 minutes head start on the scratch bunch and would, for the first race of the series, have to complete the full 5 laps.

Next away with 10 mins on scratch were the prerace favourites. DeMac’s muffin men have been gaining speed each week. John Beech, Rod Cheyne, Jason Fritzlaff and Terry Kelly were joined by first time racer Ryan MacGregor.

They teamed well but the pace was a little too much for Kelly after 2 laps and Fritzlaff lasted 3 laps with them. They caught the Thursday morning girls and Captain Mainwaring on lap 4 but kept the speed on.

Next away with 8 minutes on Scratch and doing 4 laps were Adele Whelan, Annie Pryjmak and Donna Innes- Wardell. They worked together for the first 2 laps. At that point Adele Whelan made the brave call to go it alone. This would mean riding 3 laps solo to take the victory.

Experienced campaigner Trev Rollinson made the rookie mistake of missing his 7 minute start time. This left Hayden Johnston and Graeme Patrick short handed. Trev join the 5 minute bunch of Pete Whelan, Jason Tubnor, Simon Baxter, Geoff Thomson and Jimmy Lalor.

With 2.5 minutes break on scratch Rob Monk, George Tambassis, Roland Elsdom, Glynn Marriott and Luke Morrison would have their work cut out to stay away from the scratch group of Matt Parkinson, Leigh Hauxwell, Brett Kennedy, Graeme Parker and Alan McCulloch. The scratch bunches job was made easier when race director Jayman Prestidge cheated and let them go 30 seconds early; STRAVA does not lie.

Scratch caught chopping block on lap 3 and had the combined 7 and 8 minute groups in sight at the bell.

DeMacs muffin men caught the limit group on lap 4, but could not shake them off. Mariah, Macca, Kerryn and John rolled plenty of turns with them and they maintained their pace at over 35km/h. It was only the solo rider, Adele Whelan,that they needed to catch with a lap to go.

Adele would not be caught though at the finish she still had over a minute to celebrate her victory.

DeMac’s muffin men were toweled up in the sprint by Macca Parkinson and Mariah Dastey as the Thursday morning girls made it a one, two, three finish. Then followed John Beech, Duane McDonald, Ryan MacGergor, Rod Cheyne, John Van Heuven, Kerryn Milner and Annie Pryjmak.

Some overzealous officialdom from Race Director Jayman Prestidge saw a number of disqualifications for minor infractions of the road rules. Any rider who crossed the centre line for even a fraction of second was disqualified by the despotic Prestidge. His carping display of officiousness saw fastest time winner Matt Parkinson and second place getter Brett Kennedy, as well as three others DQ’d, leaving fasted time to Alan McCulloch. We all know the road rules and it is up to us to stick to them, especially when we are on show to the public.

Anyone who would like to try racing is invited to register on the clubs Facebook page or website. Pre enter each Voyage Fitness Handicap race here. Novice racers are welcome. Handicaps are a great way to start racing.

Next week, we host the final round of the Victorian Cyclocross series.  You can enter here until midnight Wednesday.  On the day, spectators need to pay $10, racers get in for free, so presumably do volunteers.

Real podium ladies
Real podium ladies

Race Results

  1. Adele Whelan 8 mins 4 laps
  2. Macca Parkinson 14.5 mins
  3. Mariah Dastey 14.5 mins
  4. John Beech 10 mins
  5. Duane McDonald 10 mins
  6. Ryan MacGregor 10 mins
  7. Rod Cheyne 10 mins
  8. John Van Heuven 14.5 mins
  9. Kerryn Milner 14.5 mins
  10. Annie Pryjmak 8 mins 4 laps

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