With a crosswind hindering riders, 14 signed on for an all in high speed race over 20km from the Airport start aptly named the Last Chance Handicap.

Starting on scratch with the clock on zero was new C Grade rider Clare Lehmann followed by the first hare, Allan Wood on 2 min 40 as the last of the C Graders.  B grade commenced only a handful of seconds later with Lyn Roughan.  Vicki Nicholson returning from serious injury was given a gentle handicap and set off with Daryl Swift exactly a minute later.  Luke Scard benefitting from some tough training rides, was next with a solo departure on five minutes.  Linda French, Clayton Green and Tony Sweeney were 30 seconds behind with the 2015 B Grade champion Frank Long on six minutes with the last of this year’s B Graders Melanie Rowland 30 seconds further back.

It was then time for A Grade to send out riders with Dave Ericson only a whisper behind Rowland and Dave Knight also solo 25 seconds back.  The very last of the A Graders was Matthys Labuschagne bringing up the back mark.

This handicap is about maintaining your best pace for the entire 20km and soon Nicholson, Roughan and Scard had joined up by the 10km turn, having overtaken Lehmann and Wood.  With speeds in the high thirties the backmarkers were amalgamating quickly with Ericson, Knight, Rowland and Green a strong quartet in pursuit of the lead trio.

Scard chanced a sneaky surge 4km from the end and dropped his pack mates and put his head down and went for broke. But Scard was not to be denied his maiden trophy race and crossed, stopping the clock at 39:45 enjoying a ride time of 34.45.  Second came out of the bunch sprint with Rowland only six seconds in arrears and a good third place from Green. 

The club will resume a series of training rides awaiting the first of the 40/20 Series to commence on 17 October 2015.  This series is always popular with both new riders and seasoned competitors as the shortened distances allow those testing road racing for the first time have opportunity to be guided by the old hands in the peloton.  Details will be released in the next few weeks.

Sunday’s Club Championships were bound to be hotly contested competition for the riders of the Copper City Cycling Club.

With numbers still down, only small fields signed up to take on their fellow cyclists in each grade.  With a bevy of volunteers on hand, each grade was ridden as a single out and back course to test each rider on their strength and more so their tactical abilities.

SSE winds were blowing on the course with a guaranteed strengthening cross head wind on the return journey.

Five A grade riders made up the peloton for the 80 km journey, undertaken in pleasant conditions for the ride out to the turn.  Ken Glasco, Graham Peden, Matthys Labuschagne, David Knight and David Ericson were set for battle.  The pack took a reasonably leisurely trip out to the turn, knowing the hard work was on the return journey and were in sight of the B grade pack at one stage.

Once turned for home, the diesel engine of Labuschagne kicked in.  Without a sprint, he systematically set about try to inflict pain upon the riders and despatch them before the finish line.  At about 50 km Knight was first to go, after Labuschagne put in a big surge after Knight had rolled off the front of the pack.  Next to fall victim was Ericson about 5 km later and under exactly the same circumstances.

Glasco and Peden were not to be fooled and the trio were all lined up for the final tactical moves within sight of the finish.  Glasco and Peden were locked in a tussle for the sprint and in the final metres Peden proved to have the better legs and crossed the line victorious in a time of 2:25:14 for the race.  Labuschagne crossed two seconds later and Ericson was a distant fourth.

With 6 riders on the roster for B Grade over 60 km the pace was high from the outset with some riders keen to keep speeds up from the gun.  Linda French, Tony Sweeney, Clayton Green, Lyn Roughan, Melanie Rowland and Frank Long took to the start after the A Grade.  With the group together until the downhill 18 km into the race where Roughan was dropped doing 53 km/hr and the pack sitting at 59 km/hr, the remaining 5 riders remained in a together.  With pace being applied up each rise, Sweeney was next to be dropped leaving only 4 to go to line for the remainder of the race.

Coming into the finish, it was down to who could hold their nerve and not begin the sprint too early.  In a sport where age, speed and strength doesn’t always mean a win, wily veteran Frank Long bided his time and pushed go at exactly the right time, gapping Rowland by 2 seconds and crossing in 1:52:08 to finally achieve his dream of winning the B Grade championship.  Green was third a further 4 seconds back and French took a well-deserved fourth in 1:52:21.  Sweeney, 2014’s champion rode tempo to the line.

C Grade has the smallest field of all with Simone Marsh, Allan Wood and Clare Lehmann the only riders in the peloton.  Marsh and Wood were swapping turns for a time, but Marsh finally let Wood go, as he was riding so strong.  C Grade champion for 2015, Wood was happy to cross in 1:02:59 with Marsh second just under 2 minutes later.  Lehmann was in clip on pedals for the first time and she rode over a minute faster than last weeks for the same distance and earn’t creditable third spot.

Training rides resume on October 17.