A lot of the
Randwick riders were in division 3, which started off at a moderate pace
towards the first sprint at Mann River. Then the peloton increased pace
as they approached the start of the Gibralter range, with one Randwick
rider just HAD to join a break to try to get the Randwick Jersey on TV
when the media chopper was hovering over head ;)The Gibralter range was
1km straight up, at the start, the bunch mostly disintegrated and took
most of the riders 50min - 1hour to complete the climb. On the top of
the range there was a welcome feeding station for those riders who had
managed to persuade girlfriends, or mate's girlfriends (thanks Tim) :)
to act as handlers and hand out musette's with welcome drink and food.
Then there was
another 150km of rolling hills to go! Most of the riders were able to
locate themselves in a bunch for the rest of the race, but there were
some stories of riders having to do 150km time trials on their own to
the finish...
Overall it was a
fantastic race... you certainly get to know your fellow riders after
228km and 7 hours + on the road! The race organisation was flawless the
scenery was beautiful and people friendly. The dinner was attended by
Heinrich Haussler and Scotty Sunderland who were both inverell locals.
Overall a great
day, and most riders said they would definately be back next year.
Club Sponsor
Bike Bug also had a team enterered, with Phillip Grenful, Craig Hutton,
Angus Gale, Antony Dimitrovski helping Sam Rutherford from Team Bike Bug
to get a well deserved third in A Grade.
If you are
interested in seeing what the race was like, it will be televised in a 1
hour special on SBS Cycling Central this Sunday 31 October at 5pm.
So, think about
entering next year, perhaps as part of a Randwick team!
