Club League starts with a bang
Finally winter is over and spring is in the air, the Easter Eggs are being hunted and of course the Club League rolls into town. The first round this year is a bit different with a club road race to test all those highly trained racers. The “Kelly Race” is designed as a beginners road race so the usual Scratch group sit out and marshal for this event giving the opportunity for the up and coming stars in the club to get a chance of success.
This year we have a secret Club League committee who work in the shadows collecting full stats on riders and racers….ftp data, strava mileage, new shiny bikes ordered…..Once this information is collected it is processed and a magical set of names are produced for each group and a handicap time set. So with this elite special unit set up what could possibly go wrong.
With the race only being 4 laps it was always going to be a fast pace and Group 1 set off with a bang and looked like they would be hard to catch with Stevie Wallace keeping them in line as the road marshal. The second group on the road complained about the long wait but took off in chase with group 3 not that long behind them.
After the first lap cracks were starting to show in all the groups but most notably Jonathan Graham who has only recently signed up (current stats missing on this rider) had managed to break from Group 1 and was lapping very strongly. The group 2 had been split with Aaron Watson and Peter Davison doing the damage, Group 3 had pre-race favourite Jack Ferguson and his group were working well together but had lost a few members out the back.
By the last lap Aaron and Peter and collected what was left of group 1 with the exception of the lone breakaway and were holding off group 3 riders chasing hard from behind. Jonathan Graham took the victory with plenty of time to spare to claim a race victory at his first club road race…..I am sure he will love riding with the scratch group at the next road race ;-). The race for the last places on the podium was intriguing with Aaron and Peter catching and passing Jackie on the final lap the two riders battled all the way to the line with Aaron delighted to take 2nd place with Peter just behind in 3rd.
This really doesn’t tell the whole story of the race which saw many riders dig deep to get around a very tough course so full respect for giving it a go. Many thanks to the Marshals that helped out make the course as save as can be as well as special thanks to Deek Hanna for doing Lead Car.
If you think we missed something or have ideas to improve our club road races then please use the web form to contact us with your ideas.
Final results are:
My Photos can be found here and Gavins can be found here.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Tickets for the black tie ball to celebrate 30 years of the club are now available here.
- If you are planning on doing the Anniversary ride up to the North Coast with free BBQ please sign on.
- If you haven’t signed up for Marshalling duties for the Club League then go do it.
- Club Casual Clothing Shop will be open for a couple of weeks and then the order will be going in so if you want some order soon.
Next week is Hillsborough – Ballynahinch 5 Up – Teams will be sorted on the night and we recommend parking in Ballynahinch and riding to the start. See you there.
