Gibson takes win at the Annahilt Road Race

by Rich · July 10, 2015

Well what a night of racing that was. So much to report on it is always difficult to know where to start. Thankfully this week it is easy to start with the DCC members who took there time to step up and marshal this race. When we started we only had a few marshals on the list with a requirement of at least 12 to make sure the riders are safe.

A HUGE thanks to the small army of marshals who came forward.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Without you there would be no race. I hope everyone of the riders personally thanked you lovely people for giving up your time.

Timekeepers: Emma J, Gareth W (and Chief Marshal) and Graham B
Corner 1: Jim McM, Conor R, John and Jonathan W, Neil F, Martin M
Corner 2: Graeme D, David McC, Neill C and Philip B, Marcus M, Trevor B
Corner 3: Mike B, Michael M, Linda F, Roisin McI, Cathy W, Colin McG, Raymund M
Lead Car: Peter B

Our handicap/group co-ordinator had been working hard on the groups and as with every week there has been much discussion about who should be in which group. The independant auditor informs me that it is not like Fifa and no money has changed hands to make sure they are not put in scratch. This week scratch managed to recruit a few new lambs to the slaughter with group 4 getting a new sandbagger ;-). The handicaps had been set so that we all come together for the final sprint (handicap/group co-ordinator needs to work on this).

On the second lap the catch was made by scratch and the attacking started. Its fair to say it was a quick race with a lot of strong riders attempting to get away but wind conditions making any attack very difficult. In the end Chris M made a huge push up the climb for the final corner but everyone came together for the gallop down to Annahilt. With Lyndsey Watso, David Montogomery, Ronnie Smyth & Gavin Magowan all looking to see who would make the first move it was the young Matthew Gibson who made a long dash from the back to catch everyone by surprise. As it turned out it was a perfectly timed sprint and he took the win with time to get his arms in the air.