The champagne flowed at the SKCC Club Road Race Championships raced last Sunday at Sutherlands Creek, as some 90odd determined SKCC cyclists battled it out for the honour of being crowned the SKCC Road Champ for 2014! A howling northerly and a tough rolling parcours softened many legs, leaving only the truly strong to contend for membership of the SKCC honour roll.
Unfortunately, to paraphrase Highlander, there can be only one (in each grade at least); but a great spectacle was put on across all the grades, and the barbecue and awesome company afterwards served to heal some of the wounded egos after!
Charter Mason covered itself in glory as Morgan Smith and Rowan Dever took the top two places on the podium in the men’s elite race, while in the women’s elite race, Bridie O’Donnell finally stepped up to take the honours after a number of years of chasing the trophy. Bridie put in an impressive display of tactical nous and sheer power as she dropped her fellow lead pair of Clare Morgan and Margeaux Thompson, to then do a 35km solo TT to win by over 4 minutes. Shane Miller equally showed his strength in the solo pursuit to cross the line with acres of clean air behind him in the men’s MMAS2/3 grade, and Stay True’s Alison McCormack claimed the trophy in women’s WMAS2/3. Tim MCGrath returned to defend, and retain his position as SKCC’s MMAS4/5 trophy holder, as did Dale Malziel, who rode strongly in the field that contained the open winner. Dale’s experience shone through as she outsprinted relative newcomer Annie Mollison, who couldn’t match Dale’s leg speed in the closing metres of the super-fast downhill sprint! Jeff Provan again showed his form in a slightly depleted MMAS6+ field, and we saw three juniors’ grades this year, with Junior Boys U15, U17 and U19 represented, with Carter Turnbull, Kallum Parlevliet and James Rasool taking their respective grades. We look forward to seeing more of these young men, and more in the way of juniors throughout the club!
Thanks, as always, to Gaelene, John, for their tireless efforts in organising yet another brilliantly well run race, and thanks to all the other volunteers, marshalls, commissaires, families and friends! It wouldn’t happen without you all!
2014 SKCC Road Championships Results:
Men: Morgan Smith, Rowan Dever, Daniel Strauss
Women: Bridie O’Donnell, Hannah Vine, Margeaux Thompson
Masters Men 2/3: Shane Miller, Brian Darby, Lynton Zawadski
Masters Women 2/3: Alison McCormack, Sarah Dam & Martyn Taylor (dead heat)
Masters Men 4/5: Tim McGrath, Carmine Soriano, Bruno Rabl
Masters Women 4/5: Dale Maizels, Annie Mollison, Jo O’Shaughnessy
Masters Men 6+: Jeff Provan, Chris Wallis
Junior Boys U15: Carter Turnbull
Junior Boys U17: Kallum Parlevliet
Junior Boys U19: James Rasool