5.2 May 9 Bleat

Hello Vets,

In this week's Bleat;

• Gunning Peter McLennan Memorial 2 Day Event

• Help with Race & Fitness Walking Event

• Free Traffic Controller Training Course - registrations open

• Tandem come and try day

• Help with ACT Race & Fitness Walking Club Event

• Interstate Events

• Racing this Week

Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton

Gunning Peter McLennan Memorial 2 Day Event

Saturday 7th May - Day 1

An absolutely beautiful day greeted 75 riders at race central. No wind and the sun was shining meant that the races were going to be held in perfect conditions.

The test of time was first up, rider against the clock. 4km’s over a mostly downhill course. Some very impressive times were posted with Roger Northcote in B grade proving that sprinters can equally match the specialist Time Trialers by posting the 2nd fastest time of the day overall, well done Roger! Across all grades the time results were very tightly clustered together with time spreads of only 20 seconds across 18 riders the norm.

After a lunch break, the riders then tackled stage 2. Stage 2 was a 50km out and back course along the traditional route towards Breadalbane (or bree-dal-bane as I was corrected by a local). With sprint primes offering riders the opportunity to claw back valuable seconds, riders had to not only watch for those ahead of them in the overall standings but others who were nipping at their heels.

Some very close racing over the 50km’s resulted in the top 4 in B grade being within 4 seconds of each other, top 15 within 20 seconds in C grade and the top 3 in D grade within 5 seconds.

Sunday 8th May - Day 2

Wow! What a change 24 hours makes. The heavens opened up and decided to stay open for most of the day for some much needed rain for the Gunning district. You’d think with the combination of rain and Mother’s Day, many riders would take the easy option and not race. However the ACT Vets riders demonstrated that a little bit of moisture was not going to get in their way to race stage 3. The added bonus was a good wash for the bikes, always look at the positives people! With A, B, C & D racing over the longer 100km’s there was only eagerness on the line.

10kms into the A grade race, Matt McAuliffe attacked and proceeded to demonstrate a masterclass of solo riding for 90kms. He won A grade by a country mile (a country mile out Gunning way is over 10 mins). Sean Ifland and Marc Vroomans chased hard for 2nd and 3rd overall respectively.

B grade was a lot more tactical with the prime sprints being hotly contested. Christophe Barberet held out all attacks over the weekend to take home the gold with Paul Welsh and Owain Tilley rounding out 2nd & 3rd.

C grade started the day very close, but Al Bontjer showed his years of experience in recording a fine win over Steve Schwenke and Warwick Wilson. Credit to John Paul De Sousa who was sitting in 2nd place overall on the last lap but suffered a puncture out near Breadalbane. Any ordinary rider would seek the warmth and dryness of the trail car for a ride home, but not John Paul who battled the elements all the way back to the finish line so as not to get a “DNF” next to his name.

D grade A compressed field but all riders were in with a chance at the start. Mark Stevenson showed too much power in the end and extended his lead throughout the day to take home the gold. John Ignatius and Darren Garnon took 2nd and 3rd.

E, F & G grades took on the same course yesterday with a single lap 50km out and back race.

E grade eyed each other off at the start line as the win was up for grabs amongst several riders. Throughout the day the lead see-sawed and even after they had crossed the finish line it was still anybody’s until the sprint primes results were delivered. James Curren who is in great form took a very narrow win over David Gunther and Alex Sommariva. Only 10 secs separated the first 3 over the entire weekend.

F Grade was a duo effort with Mary Lovett and Ian Morton already in agreement on how to race the day before the start. They surely didn’t want to ride 50kms in the rain solo? Mary kept on her winning attitude by taking out a 10min overall margin win for the weekend with Ian Morton always pushing away in 2nd place.

G grade experienced the wrath of Paul Robey on a mission to go up to F Grade. I heard he has been putting in some solid km’s of training and it showed with Paul powering over 50kms to record a margin of over 5 mins for the weekend from Polly Templeton and Bernie Crowe in 3rd.

GC Winners

A Grade: Matt McAuliffe (1st), Sean Ifland (2nd), Marc Vroomans (3rd)

B Grade: Owain Tilley (3rd), Christophe Barberet (1st), Paul Welsh (2nd)

C Grade: Stephen Schwenke (2nd), Allan Bontjer (1st), Warwick Wilson (3rd)

D Grade: Darren Garnon (3rd), Mark Stevenson (1st), John Ignatius (2nd)

E Grade: James Curran (1st), David Gunther (2nd), Alex Sommariva (3rd)

F Grade: Mary Lovett (1st), Ian Morton (2nd)

G Grade: Paul Robey (1st), Polly Templeton (2nd), Bernard Crowe (3rd)

Photos courtesy Terry Lovett

The entire weekend was capped off by a fabulously catered lunch at the Gunning showground by the Anne Darbyshire & ladies crew who gave up a good part of their time on Mother’s day to feed a hungry horde of post race riders.

The Gunning 2 day event is the ACT Vets biggest event on their calendar and as such there is a hive of activity in organizing this event with special credit to the following people:

Phil Coulton- For securing the road approvals from Goulburn police. This is not an easy feat with a mountain of paperwork to be submitted

Graham Hendrie for the van duties and ensuring that all times were entered so that the riders could see their times as soon as was practicable on the web.

Paul & Ben Robey- for towing the portaloo to and from Gunning.

Alex O’Shea for two days of superb help on timings and race number spotting at the finish line

Kisti McVay for ensuring everything was paid for.

Tom Roberts the sports med who was only required twice over the weekend for minor medical issues.

And of course all of the marshals that volunteered their precious time to help out. Without your help, these events would not be possible

Saturday

Craig Kentwell- Time trial time keeper

Graham Hendrie- Time trial time keeper

Doug Widdup- Breadalbane turn

Alex O’Shea- Everywhere helper

Richard Bourne- Finish Chute

Mike Hayes- Lead Car

Damian Copeland- Trail car

Christopher Short- Sprint prime

Ian Mcvay-Sprint prime

Bruce Jones- Sprint prime

Sunday

Graham Hendrie- Time keeper

Alex O’Shea- Everywhere Helper

Mike Hayes- Trail Car

Ashley Sked- Lead Car

Kevin Hennessy- Breadalbane turn

David McGuinness- Sprint prime

Ian McVay- Sprint prime

David Witteveen- Sprint prime

Terry Merrigan- Finish line

And finally a race is only as good as the riders who compete. Whether you came first, last or somewhere in between you all demonstrated that the spirit of the club is very strong. You made my first race referee event a thoroughly enjoyable one. Sunday’s weather was not ideal but you all took to it like a duck to water (literally speaking). At the end of the day you can sit back and relax to count down the days until next year’s race.

Final Result at http://www.actvets.cc/gunning-two-day/gunning2016.

Ben Davis

Gunning Race Director

Vets out and about...

If you looked around the start at A grade and thought Rowan McMurray was wimping out by not riding at Gunning, well, think again. He was actually doing the epic Grafton-Inverell in C grade finishing in the top 20 in seven hours! That's a 228 hilly kms at around 32km/h.

Free Traffic Controller Training Course - registrations open

Capital Cycling, in association with Roads ACT have schedule FREE Traffic Controller Training for the Cycling clubs and community of the ACT for the past two years. Roads ACT have once again enabled FREE access to this training for two dates in 2016.

The Traffic Controller training that is provided meets the NSW and the ACT requirements and provides the appropriate qualification to allow a registered person to control traffic at cycling (and other) events. The 2016 education and training is designed to meet the new standards that will be implemented across Australia in 2016.

The Traffic Controller Training courses will be held for free for Canberra cycling clubs and cycling organisations in May and again in August. Spaces are limited for each training course.

Fully subsidised by Roads ACT these courses have been organised to assist in minimising costs on cycling clubs and organisations and help train volunteers, or club appointed marshals to fulfil the marshalling duties at cycling events. We urge you to make use of this generous offer and assist your club and the broader cycling community by having more trained and skilled operators available for club and open events in the ACT. Training is provided by South Eastern Workplace Safety. Please note ALL registrants must have a current driver’s license.

Course 1 Dates: Saturday 18th June Time: Full day of training 9 – 5pm Location: Canberra Ave, Fyshwick Cost: Free

Course 2 Dates: Saturday 20th August Time: Full day of training 9 – 5pm Location: Canberra Ave, Fyshwick Cost: Free

To register please go to: https://eventdesq.imgstg.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main&EventDesqID=19094&OrgID=4426

Tandem come and try day

Riding a bike is an inclusive activity – however it’s not always an activity everyone can be included in without some extra assistance, particularly if they have a visual impairment.

For this reason, we are always looking for new tandem pilots to ride with us.

On Sunday May 15 at the Treasury Building Carpark on Langton Crescent, Parkes, between 2 and 4pm, Fitability will be holding a come and try tandem afternoon where people can go down and trial piloting a tandem bike!

This is a great opportunity for people to turn up and see if piloting a tandem is something they enjoy and could share with riders with vision impairment.

No matter what interest you have, whether it is road riding, social riding or even racing – if you are confident on your bike and open to trying a tandem then Fitability’s trial afternoon is for you.

The only thing you need to bring with you is your own helmet and a willingness to give something new a try.

Contact:

Lauren Brand

Fitability Tandem Cycling Program

m) 0403 602577

Email) laurenbrand@grapevine.com.au

www.fitability.org.au

Help with ACT Race & Fitness Walking Club Event

The ACT Race & Fitness Walking Club is holding the 50th Annual event of the ACT Walking Carnival which attracts walkers from interstate and sometimes international. We have had Olympians compete also. We think it must be a record for the longest continuing event in the ACT !

In doing so we need to close off Weston Park for which we already have approval. We have had a club member who is a traffic controller who has always verified that all our signage and closures etc are in accordance with the approved plans, however this year that person is unavailable. So we are hoping someone, with traffic control quals may be willing to help us out on the day to verify all is in accordance with the "approvals".

The day is Sunday 12th June - Queens Birthday weekend, from 8am till 3pm. We set up on Saturday afternoon 11th June. How long and when the 'controller' would want to, or need to, be there would be in the hands of the controller.

Any assistance very much appreciated.

Geoff Barker

0401 494 435

ps Any one who has a 1st Aid qual and will to ride also most welcome.

Interstate Events

• 2016 BATTLE ON THE BORDER

- 3-5 June

Now in its 8th year, the Battle of the Border cycling festival has grown to a notable multi-stage tour offering challenging racing in juniors, elite, masters and NRS divisions. The festival courses range from 50km to 150km, crossing challenging terrain and highlighting the beautifully unique volcanic caldera environment. Details at http://www.battleontheborder.com.au/.

RACING THIS WEEK:

Saturday, 14th May: Dog Trap Rd - Secret Handicap - Cole Family Trophy

Where: Intersection Dog Trap Rd and Long Rail Gully Rd, North of Murrumbateman.

When: 1:30 pm.

Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.

Race Description: 2.5 laps of Dog Trap Rd

Race Director: tba

Contact: Email tba Ph tba