Friday, 03 September 2010
ON Saturday the Eastern Bay Cycle Club raced a 52-kilometre course, starting at Destiny Church in Whakatane’s Valley Road.
Riders headed out through Taneatua and the Waimana Gorge, turning at the second Waimana turnoff for the journey home.
Three riders in the 20-strong field were given a 15-minute handicap, the next group of eight riders five minutes, and the scratch bunch of nine were last away.
All riders stayed together in their respective bunches on the way out over the flatter part of the course. When they hit the hill, Willie Harris attacked his fellow scratch riders to open a small advantage. At the turn, the front markers still held a good advantage while the scratch bunch was reeling in the break bunch.
After the turn the riders faced a head wind that allowed the scratch riders to reel in Harris. The break bunch still had a small gap heading into Taneatua but could see the scratch riders coming. As they exited Taneatua, they were finally caught. However, the scratch bunch had lost both Blair McComb and Brad Jones to punctures by this stage.
The combined scratch-break bunch set about reeling in the front markers. There were a couple of attempts by some to break off the front but with the head wind strengthening this was always going to be a tough ask. They eventually caught Chris Thompson, who had been dropped by the front markers, and as they entered the last straight before the finish they could see the final two front markers ahead.
However, they eventually ran out of time, leaving Corrie Smit and Alan Jordan to fight it out for the win. Corrie Smit won by the smallest of margins from Alan Jordan in 1 hour 33 minutes.
Less than a minute later the rest of the field sprinted for third place. Rex Humpherson crossed the line ahead of the rest of the bunch to take that honour and fastest time in 1 hour 19 minutes, closely followed by Kevin McComb and Harris.
This weekend’s race is the Jim Chadwick Memorial, starting at 1pm at the Awakaponga Hall.