Walkaway Return 40km Individual Road Race

And the road wins…….

The hint of wet weather and ever increasing wind didn’t deter thirteen dedicated riders from lining up to start the Deepdale to Walkaway Return 40km Individual Road Race.

Barb Glenister and Jennie Haste were joined by new riders Seb Moore and Gerald Laurent as the first group away with Seb showing great speed and enthusiasm straight from the go.  Moore, Laurent and Haste pulled away from Glenister early in the distance and combined well to keep good speed.  Haste utilised her experience to assist Moore and Laurent in benefiting from team work when riding in the elements. Jennie was trialling a new bike for the race and was very happy with the results and her ride. Laurent suffered a mechanical problem with his pedal which subsequently resulted in him having to abandon the race.

Julie Firth, Johnny Barber, Reg Salmon and Eddie Muller set off at +5:00 minutes with Muller racing on a gorgeous new Kuota.  The strength in this group was evident with them working hard together and catching the first group on the outward leg to Walkaway.

At +10:00 minutes Paul Matthews, Tim Glenister, Duanne Crabb, Paul Dodson and Andrew Elliott burst from the starting line and soon settled into great speed and team work to haul in the riders in front of them.  Elliott brought his road bike along for a run and showed that he is one to watch in future events.

The rain and wind played havoc when the groups started to catch each other and unfortunately this resulted in an accident which saw Julie Firth come down at speed.  Thankfully Julie is okay, she has some bruises and cuts which required stitches but no severe injuries which is good news. Reg Salmon and Johnny Barber stopped to care for Julie (and her bike) with Johnny then accompanying Julie to the hospital for treatment and assessment.  Jennie Haste and Seb Moore also stopped to assist and then continued with the race once they knew Julie was being looked after. Special thanks to Terry Wellman for taking Julie to the hospital.  Julie has posted a message about the accident which is listed below.

With all remaining riders now grouped together, the strength of the scratch group came through.  Andrew Elliott crossed the line in a blistering 1:07:17 which is a cracking pace when viewed against the pouring rain and strong wind.  Elliott was closely followed by Paul Dodson at 1:08:12, Duanne Crabb at 1:08:25, Paul Matthews at 1:08:29 and Tim Glenister at 1:09:42.

Jennie Haste and Seb Moore were next across the line in corrected time of 1:22:09 with Eddie Muller and Barb Glenister finishing soon after.

Final rider in was Reg Salmon who completed the race as a solo rider after assisting Julie.  Full results are listed below and the Picasa Photostream to the right has been updated with pictures from the event.

Many thanks to Peter Burchell for coordinating the race and for collecting bikes at the road side, Terry Wellman for marshaling, Wayne Hosking for timekeeping, Paul Dodson for delivering Johnny and Julie’s bikes to them and to Tim and Barb Glenister for putting out and collecting the signs.

A message from Julie: For those that saw me kiss the bitumen on Sunday's Walkaway race, I just want to let you know I am o.k. Nothing broken, just bruised and cut up various eight places with a few stitches. I am going to look pretty colourful tomorrow. I hit Johnny's back wheel and come off. Lucky no one was behind me. The wee green machine actually fared better than I did. My helmet broke, thankfully it wasn't my head.

Anyway I want to thank everyone for looking after me and the bikes. Have appreciated the calls and hospital visits. A special thanks to Johnny, Terry, Reg and Paul. See you back on the road soon.