Race Report & Many thanks to Andy Carpmael for capturing the video action on the day.
Race Report courtesy of Luke Fetch
A perfect Autumn morning greeted 30 keen MCC members for our club handicap at Somers. No wind, beautiful sunshine and flat terrain was a great incentive to inflict some pain on the legs for the handicap format.
The limit bunch was 15 minutes with each group containing about 4/5 riders whom had to complete 5 laps of the 10km circuit.
The 13 minute group had great momentum in the early laps and quickly caught up with limit group. Some of the riders fell of the pace quickly once combined and the group was left vulnerable only again to be caught by the chasing groups behind.
The pick of the groups to be in was the 6 minute group. Luke (Mr Handicapper) must have been feeling generous, but once they picked up a group or 2 they ended up with a peloton! The guys were charging home and looked to have the race sewn up!
Behind them we had our masters A guys, with the young guns a further 90 seconds in arrears all working hard!! With just 1 lap to go scratch finally caught the group in front. They had 8 guys chasing a 50 second gap with less than 10kms to go. A big ask for tired legs.
At the front of the race the 6 minute group had caught everyone and were racing for the win!
It came down to a bunch sprint where Rhys Buzza proved too quick for the peloton and picked up 1st Place, congratulations Rhys, closely followed in 2nd position was young gun Alex Wardrop and 3rd was (alleged sandbagger) Brendan Leihy.
The scratch group fell about 45 seconds short, where Paul Weymouth took out the sprint for fastest time.
Congrats to the novice podium, Declan Doyle 1st, Ella Jaeschke 2nd, Amy Ellis 3rd.
The handicap, Rhys Buzza 1st, Alex Wardrop 2nd, Brendan Leihy 3rd.
Fastest time, Paul Weymouth for the 2nd race in a row.
Thanks to all our volunteers on the corners for keeping us safe, Dean and Trent for signage, Andy Carpmael yet again for the video and finally to Bruce Trew for his commitment to the club and making everything possible!
Once again many thanks to all the helpers, we couldn’t do it without you!