By Rockhampton Cycling Club
What was supposed to be a bright and sunny morning with a possible afternoon shower turned into a more challenging morning than expected.
A 65-rider strong contingent assembled at Lake Mary to compete in the first CQ Gravel Race of the season. The Junior Little Grubs and Big Grubs had a dedicated course close to the Registration tent to allow Parents and Grandparents the best vantage point to cheer on their enthusiastic riders.
The Long and Medium Course riders were set on their way to complete their 54km and 20km circuits respectively. It was then the Gravel Grubs turn to have some fun.
Gravel Grubs Juniors comprised of riders from U7 to U13. After a short practice on the specially designed course the Gravel Grubs split into “Little” and “Bigs” to commence their first race.
The Little Grubs had an out and back circuit turning around at the “half way tree” giving them a relatively smooth track apart from the mandatory car track ruts. Riders ran this as an Individual Time Trial with each rider leaving 15 seconds after the rider in front to eliminate running into traffic on your “fast lap”. For the Big Grubs their Individual Time Trial comprised a tougher test of bike handling to complete a full lap with ruts, wombat holes and loose corners.
For their second race the Little Grubs had a Mass start of the same circuit – an off-road sprint race if you will. While the Big Grubs challenged themselves to 10 min plus 1 lap of the full circuit.
At the end of the racing the Grubs had weary but cheeky smiles which showed how much of a great time was had by all.
The Gravel race attracted rider from Juniors to Masters. And it was great to see riders from The Re – Cycle Bulls for Youth group (powered by MRAEL) having a great time out on the course.
Although the morning was challenging with windy conditions and rain scuds throughout the race, Junior riders George & Angus on the short course clocked over 40km/hr with a tail wind behind them.
Not to be outdone by the Long Course Men with an all-out sprint after 1hr and 34 on the bike for 2nd &3rd place between Cooper Sayers and Brendon Brauer.
A fantastic event in a three round series sponsored by AB Mechanical & GIANT saw riders from Emerald, Mackay, Gladstone, Yeppoon and Rockhampton all competing to be part of the Gravel podium. It was fantastic to welcome 16 female riders who enjoyed themselves immensely on the challenging courses.
AB Mechanical and GIANT Gravel Race Round 1 Results
Junior (Little Grubs) ITT results: 1st Isla James (2:42.1), 2nd Penny Chadwick (2:46.2), 3rd Rosie Harris (2:49.2), 4th Jude Brownlie (3:08.1)
Junior (Big Grubs) ITT results: 1st Lainey Boswood (1.44), 2nd Liam Campbell (1:44), 3rd Dustin Boswood (1:49), 4th Piper Edwards (1:57), 5th Riley Hickson (1:59), 6th Rhys Campbell (2:19), 7th Arlo Chadwick (2:19), 8th Walter Olman (2:21), 9th Milla James (2:27), 10th Rhys Lentell (2:35), 11th Hudson Edwards (2:45), 12th Archie Harris (2:45).
Medium Course – Junior: 1st George Tucker (51:21.2), 2nd Angus Bennett (51:31.2), 3rd Dustyn Bennett (1:04:00.0), 4th Jessie Starr (1:10:08.4), 5th Marshall Boswood (1:13:17.6).
Medium Course – Female: 1st Wendy Mason (52:24.8), 2nd Jen Bennett (1:04:00.9), 3rd Louise Dern (1:07:17.5), 4th Elle Dickinson (1:13:09.0), 5th April Ibbotson (1:13:23.4), 6th Megan Dunnett (1:48:18.4)
Medium Course – Male: 1st James Cooper (54:34.4), 2nd Craig Davenport (1:07:07.6), 3rd Lloyd Maturan (1:10:07.5), 4th Clinton Pearce (1:16:19.6), 5th William Mason (1:21:24.0), 6th Anthony Jansen (1:21:24.4).
Long Course – Female: 1st Silvia Smith (1:46:00.1), 2nd Kirsty Boswood (2:12:09.0), 3rd Trisha Smith (2:32:38.9).
Long Course – Male: 1st Glen Chadwick (1:34:10.1), 2nd Cooper Sayers (1:34:54.6), 3rd Brendon Brauer (1:34:56.6), 4th Michael Cheesman (1:36:19.2), 5th Grant Burkhardt (1:37:33.2), 6th Nigel Smith (1:37:43.1), 7th John Earl (1:37:45.1), 8th Byron M Rackley (1:37:51.1), 9th Daniel Boswood (1:45:48.8), 10th Brenton Rohrlach (1:45:49.5), 11th Noel Philips (1:45:51.3), 12th Aaron Butler (1:45:55.1), 13th Chris Thompson (1:53:18.1), 14th Damian Harris (1:54:28.3), 15th Douglas Bennett (1:55:55.7), 16th Keiren Ferguson (1:56:08.3), 17th Brad Paton (1:56:36.6), 18th Joe Adair (1:56:49.2), 19th Mark Campbell (1:57:23.9), 20th John Fitzgerald (2:02:59.6), 21st Darren Massie (2:06:00.5), 22nd Jason Countryman (2:06:37.9), 23rd Dan Dickinson (2:10:21.7), 24th Stephen Kerr (2:15:36.8), 25th Don Mc Alpine (2:17:47.3), 26th Ray Heffer (2:19:24.9), 27th Scott Leinster (2:19:26.7), 28th John Phelan (2:25:58.0).