First MMBCC road race for 2025

By Rueben Bateup

Racing is on for 2025 and what better way to start off than the hardest finish on the calendar, with the steep, uphill finish of O’Hanlon’s Road!

To add to the challenge, there was a strong southerly wind that was going to play into the hands of the Scratch riders and make it torture for anyone who gets dropped by their group.

The first group to set off on-course was Adam Baker and Dave Bock, followed by Tim Hall and Craig Wilson at 2 minutes. These groups were caught prior to the McMillan Point turnaround by the largest group of Mick Pearce, Jason Parker, Rueben Bateup, Tim Ross and Heath Hammond, starting at 5 minutes 30. (A big MMBCC welcome to Heath for his first race.)

At 7 minutes was Steve Duke, Ant Bateup and Adrian Dowd, followed by Ryder Chadd and Damian Grundy at 8 minutes. The Scratch group consisted of Andy Garrett, Bruce Halket and Carl Simmons at 9 minutes 30.

Damian and Ryder caught Steve and Ant prior to the Lakeside Caravan Park and Adrian dropped off the back. Scratch then caught this group close to the halfway mark. With Bruce and Carl powering up the hills and Andy towing the group on the flats, the others were throwing in a turn when able.

With 2 large groups formed, the gap was small at the turnaround and the tailwind allowed the lead group to maintain their advantage. This was until Andy had other ideas and sprinted away from the chase group and passed the lead group like a freight train. This caused some turmoil in both groups with everyone trying to chase down Andy or just hang on.

Dave’s handicapping was again on point, as the two groups merged into one as they turned the corner into O’Hanlon’s for the final climb to the finish. Andy’s lead was diminished as the peloton hit the base of the climb and it was at this point that every rider pictured themselves as a contender for the win, it was on! Everyone was soon at max effort as the hill continued to steepen.

It was Carl who took the win narrowly over Rueben and Ryder in 3rd, followed by Bruce, Heath, Ant, Tim Ross, Steve, Damian and Mick to round out the top 10. Of the 17 riders, the top 11 were only separated by 1 minute which was a close race given the hill climb finish!

Thank you to all the marshals and officials for making this possible.

Here are the results and many thanks to Tony Copland for his images.

Next week it’s the Mansfield-Whitfield Road, from the Botanic Park out to Sawpit Gully Road and back, finishing near the Showgrounds on Mt Battery Road.