CONGRATULATIONS…
to Elise Empey for her silver medal at the Downhill Nationals in NSW yesterday.
And to Talia Appleton for winning A-grade Women at the Mansfield Hotel Tour p/b Orcoda today, winning all three stages!
Final call…
The Ventou portal for club kit is about to close! Email Bruce for the password, then click this link to go to the Ventou website to order your kit.
So far it’s known there have been speed suits, jerseys, bibs and at least one mountain bike jersey ordered.
Pink defeats Gravity Enduro
Dirt Crits Race Report - Tue 12 Mar
By Damian Grundy
The Empeys chose Pink over mountain biking! What is the world coming to?!
In their absence the Baker Boys (Adam and Finn) stepped up to set and mark two courses for the evening. Cam Dobson and Peter Carman stepped in to help with the starts and finish timing and so the Gravity Enduro night proceeded.
And so the crew rode themselves to the top of Stage 1 and competition was underway.
Ant Bateup and Archie Smith tied in Stage 1 with both finishing on 2 minutes 6 seconds. Adam Baker and Ruben Bateup were then in equal second place on this run with a time of 2.14.
In Run 2, a longer and more pedaling course, Ant Bateup put the pedal to the metal and clocked 3.18, 4 seconds clear of Archie Smith with Ruben Bateup a clear 3rd on 3.25.
All up it was a close result at the front of the field.
Overall Ant Bateup finished with a combined time of 5 minutes 24 seconds, 4 seconds clear of Archie Smith in second place with a combined time of 5.28.
Ruben Bateup was third on 5.39; Finn baker 4th on 5.49; Rylan Fox 5th on 6minutes even.
Special mention to the first woman on the night, Arial Stava with a combined time of 9.54.
Here are the results.
Only two more weeks of Dirt Crits left in the season - see you next week for the final XC night!
Riding bikes and bulls
By Ian Conrick
Writing an article for a Thursday night bike race should be pretty straight forward.
Well… let me tell you the footy is on the TV, Carlton has attacked Richmond and is leading by 10 points,
I’m also thinking Dusty Martin has had a bit more ink put on over the off season and then out of nowhere an ad for Yencken’s Hardware pops up on the screen that reminds me I should get a couple of bags of blood and bone for my garden. Anyway, back to the bones of the race…
Don’t be disturbed or bewildered if you read the term “I think” more than once in this report. Also the expression “those blokes” would refer to the other 20 riders that started in the race. Not to forget “that mongrel“ would be a term referring to the handicapper and not a pair of size 10 work boots from Yencken’s Hardware.
By now the race is well and truely under way l think the course is out the Mansfield -Whitfield road to a Long Lane turn around back to Barwite Rd down to the Old Tolmie Rd; another turn around then retracing Barwite Road and back into town, allowing for the additional turn arounds. I think Strava had me on about 25-40 km by now although I recall not recalibrating my computer.
Look, apart from a bit of a head wind coming back into town nothing was going to stop “The Bull Rider” - yes, young Jake Lay used to follow the rodeo circuit; riding bare back on those powerful half-mad outback bulls. But now that I’ve talked him up, I’ve checked the results and realised he came second!
First and fastest was Stuart Darling, a visitor for the night, who started with Jake and, in my defence, in the green kit they wore, looked like Jake’s twin. Stuart averaged 41.8 km/h over the 26km.
Ian Conrick (half an inch too big to be a midget wrestler) held on for 3rd place.
As usual we thank the volunteers, friends and families for helping out in running our events also to the Brown family and staff from the Mansfield Hotel for their ongoing support to the club and cycling community.
Here are the results and thanks again to the maestro, Tony Copland, for the pics.
Next weeks race will be the last of the Summer Road Race Series, starting again at the Botanic Park, out to Sawpit Gully Road and back, finishing again on Mt Battery Road near the Showgrounds.