Misting rain and cloudy conditions derailed the normal south-east prevailing winds on Sunday June 19 when the annual One Way Trophy was ridden, with the countryside having been inundated by rain the previous 24 hours.
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Twelve riders from a combined A and B field signed up for 92km in a one way course finishing halfway to Camooweal.
A new format was trialled wherein the two grades were each divided up into groups according to latest form to try to ensure that the riders might have a chance of having companions to ride with in this second longest race of the calendar.
With many B graders not present due to illness or travel, Frank Long and Geoff Marsh started the time clock leaving a 5 minute gap to the next group of Luke Scard, Mace Bennett and Clayton Green (the first of the A graders).
Doug Humphries, David Knight and Ross Lovejoy headed off at 7:30 minutes.
The final group was a quartet of Leon Bennett, John Braithwaite, Matthys Labuschagne and Danny Walker leaving last at 10 minutes.
With rain showers peppering the field, the last two groups were merged into one by the Spring Creek hill 30km into the race.
Up ahead the second group of Scard, Green and Mace Bennett finally caught the front markers at around the Gunpowder turnoff.
A big surge by the large chasing group saw the entire field together just 2km from the War Memorial rest stop some 46km into the race.
At this point the sole C Grade rider Kiri Bunker started her 44km race just prior to the field passing by the rest stop so she could get into pace to tag onto the back of the riders.
At about 60km into the race a surge put Geoff Marsh into difficulty after many weeks off the bike leaving 11 in one group battling out with surges being dished out intermittently.
With the finish line beckoning, a sprint decided the winner, with A grader Danny Walker again demonstrating why he is a danger man to take to the line, covering the distance in 2:26:29, followed closely by Doug Humphries with Labuschagne taking third position and Knight in fourth.
Fifth position saw the first B Grader Luke Scard cross, with good rides by Frank Long to stick with the strong pace of the A Graders and Mace Bennett, still participating in his first road races. Kiri Bunker was left to ride a strong 44km finishing only 10 minutes behind the men’s bunch.
The next official race is the Hartog Shield – 136km of hard work from the War Memorial to Camooweal to be ridden on Sunday July 5 with registrations being taken from 7:30am.
Check details on the club Facebook page – Copper City Cycling Club Mount Isa for upcoming training rides.
For all enquiries please email coppercitycyclingclub@gmail.com.
