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In the lead up to the popular Redmond Gravel Handicap, the challenge went out to see if anyone was game enough to ride a road bike, such were the perfection of the conditions. Butter smooth, hardpacked, and not a rut or stray rock to be seen. On the day, just one brave soul took up the challenge – but by then, the weather had intervened and the road condition was a little less than pristine. Race day dawned, cold, squally and wet; the ‘feels like’ temperature stubbornly in the low single digits, and icy showers making frequent calls across the course leaving the gravel with a nicely fluid layer on top. Given the arctic conditions, it was little surprise that this normally popular event was down on numbers from previous iterations. Organisers also took the prudent step of shortening the course to minimise risks to participants and volunteers. As with all handicap events, starting order is allocated on the basis of ability. The ‘go’ group of Shirley Thurston, Jeff Barnes and Julie Passmore started with a two-minute advantage over Mark Guerin, one of two riders who chose to ride mountain bikes instead of the vastly superior gravel bikes that most other competitors were equipped with. It was great to see the return of Passmore in her first event with the club for some time and she took up the challenge of tackling the course on her road bike. It went well for her until about seven kilometres to go when she unfortunately flatted and had to ride into the finish on the rim. At six minutes were Colin Ashton-Graham, Paul Gibson and newcomer, Andrew Carpenter. They were followed onto the course three minutes later by Mike Staude, Matt Bascombe, Blyth Andrew and Jimmy Watmore. The last two riders, Brent Schoof and Vince Bascombe followed at eleven and fourteen minutes needing to average about 34kmhr in order to catch the front of the race. By about 50 metres into the race, all riders and their bikes were covered in a patina of gritty red-brown mud that just got thicker and thicker as the race progressed. The nine minute group of Bascombe (senior), Watmore, Andrews and Staude put in a ferocious chase to haul in the six-minute group and once they came together, it was clear that this was the winning move, in spite of the pressure behind from Schoof and Vince Bascombe. In the lead up to the line, Matt Bascombe accelerated away from Ashton-Graham having relied on his wheel to get him over a couple of hills to take the win. Not far behind Ashton-Graham, was Vince Bascombe in third (and fastest) and surrendering family bragging rights for the time being to his dad, with Schoof rolling over the line in fourth. Shirley Thurston was fastest female. Thank you to the volunteers for the signage, manning the start/finish line and marshalling the corners. |
