25km Team Time Trial

Race day dawned and a multitude of excuses for not riding saw the 25km Team Time Trial easily the most well marshalled event to date. There were sore backs, torn heart muscles, spider bite, and a sore throat to mention just a few. The upside of all this was, marshals on all corners and separate jobs for bell ringers, timekeepers, and photographers at the finish.

Nineteen riders in seven teams faced Ian Andrews, event co-ordinator for the day, for five laps of the Deepdale circuit. A strong south easterly saw riders reaching over 50 kph along the finish straight.

The first three teams finished within 40 seconds of each other. Peter Burchell, Gavin Keyser and Steve Davies managed to outgun Mort Harslett, Max Nowrajee and Jon Tamm to win by 14 seconds. Paul Dodson and Reg Salmon were third, a further 26 seconds in arrears. Paul Matthews and Duane Crabbe weren't too sure if they were riding as a pair or team of three as Dave Rakuscek floated back to ride with arch enemies Burchell, Davies and Keyser for a while before then riding back up to his team for the finish.

Mark Greene rode with junior rider and friend Tim Lendic who hadn't ridden with the Club for a while and they placed a respectable fifth. However the real battle was between sixth placed Julie Firth and Deb Wake and the Andrew Toovey led group of Barb and Tim Glenister and Jenny Hastie. Even though the final time difference was only one second, the duo started fast and closed to within 22 seconds after the first lap, but Toovey’s experience held the group together and this showed with the group recording negative splits with every new lap.

Thanks to John and Gabe Andrews and Gerald Westerik who were the official marshals for the day and to the many others who sacrificed their race in order to assist.

Spokes next event is the Barb Glenister 'Light My Fire' Giles Park Cutting Lap. This is a 32km Individual Road Race starting at 8am from Giles Park on Morrell Road, Moonyoonooka. The Club already has allocated marshals for this event so get your bike ready and we will see you there!