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The last race of the season on Albany Cycle Club’s 2024 racing calendar is the Elleker Graded Handicap, this year renamed The Graham Forte Memorial in honour of former long-time club member, Graham Forte, who tragically passed away earlier this year while out riding. A variation on the usual handicap racing, a graded handicap format prioritises group cohesiveness over individual goals, resulting in highly tactical racing. While the essential principles of handicap racing remain, catch those in front, don’t get caught by those behind, the bigger groups reward those who choose to work cohesively for as long as possible with individual efforts far less likely to succeed. As is becoming typical with this race, there was a ‘breeze’ that would have done the North Sea proud and the ever present threat of rain, hail and pestilence. Given the general inclemency, Commissaire Keith Symes made the call to lop a lap off the race in the interests of rider and volunteer safety; a decision which had handicapper, Colin Ashton Graham doing some wizardry with the abacus in one hand and slide rule in the other. First off the start line was the ‘Continental’ pair of Liz Cooper and David Beckwith who needed to outlast all other groups on the four laps of the pan-flat Elleker circuit. With a total elevation of about 50 metres over the 37kms, this is no Alpe de Huez. Following them, the ‘Pro-Continental’ bunch of Michael Gardiner, Colin Ashton Graham, Mike Staude and Ryan McLaren had to make up three minutes on the Continental pair and then keep away the ‘World Tour’ team of Brett Dal Pozzo and Vince Bascombe. The extra complication was the presence of ‘National Road Series’ riders, Mighty Murray Thornton, in his first race for a long time, and Dave Marshall, fresh off a very big Backroads gravel ride, who, while racing a slightly shorter distance, still needed to be caught. Beckwith and Cooper were reeled in by the remainders of the Pro-Continental team at the start of lap three. Each had a crack at the holding the wheel before falling away and regrouping to continue their battle for the C Grade title. Ashton Graham and Gardiner who had left Staude and McLaren behind some time earlier gradually rode away, maintaining a pace about 3kmh faster than their pursuers. Behind them Brett Dal Pozzo was chasing hard solo after Vince Bascombe succumbed to the chill induced by underdressing. Regardless of work rate, penguin style insulation was still needed. And somewhere in between, Thornton and Marshall were trundling along, working together and holding a very consistent tempo. Gardiner and Ashton Graham’s pace proved to be decisive, reeling in first Thornton and then Marshall in the final stages of the last lap. Michael Gardiner took the overall win and B Grade title in a sprint finish with Ashton Graham. Dave Marshall rounded out the podium in third and collected D grade honours. Dal Pozzo was fourth and A grade champion with the fastest time on the day. In another sprint finish, Liz Cooper triumphed by half a wheel to take the C grade title. Post race, it was wonderful to hear Jane Forte talk of her husband Graham, his love of cycling, the Elleker circuit, the various bike focussed trips that they had undertaken, and his spreadsheet. Graham rode over 100 000 kilometres on his bike. Jane very generously sponsored the race, with winner Michael Gardiner pocketing a substantial Impulse Cycles voucher. A huge thankyou to the volunteers who set out the signs, manned the corners and the start/finish line. |
