There were 120 entrants in the inaugural Coffs to Coffs cycle race which was held on Sunday 27 July. The skies cleared for a perfect day of racing held on a challenging course. The A graders were the first to roll out, Erin Rogers tried his luck from the word go but was covered by an alert peloton. Craig Scott & Rod Harding also tried to get up the road before the peloton got serious, but they were denied.

After a while a breakaway of three were successful in getting a gap. Erin Rogers broke from the peloton on a lone quest to bridge the gap, unfortunately he did not quiet make it. In the end it came down to a two man sprint, Geoff Straub from Armidale just got over the top of Nathan Chiswell of Coffs Harbour. Chiswell was disappointed after the finish however his time will come as he is improving with every race. A notable finish is Chris Jahnz in 8th, Chris is doing year 12 and is only new at the sport, well done. Daniel Alcock made a return to regional racing and was happy to help control the race. Sean Golding showed that he is on track for his quest out west for the Tamworth 2 day tour. He was pleased with his 11th placing in A grade.

In B grade all the podium spots were taken out by riders from other clubs. Jim Dolan was the best placed Coffs rider in 11th.  It was a great result for all the local riders in B grade as it was reported the pace was on, the peloton averaged over 37 kilometres an hour.  Adrien Thompson & Mat Hoy should be happy with their respective results as they are new to road racing. All Coffs riders finished close to the place getters with a 21 person bunch finish to keep the judges on their toes!

In C Grade the peloton stayed together until the bottom of Mount Browne, at this point it started to fragment. Vanessa McDonald was second over the top, she encouraged her two companions to stay away from the peloton however they disagreed, may be not to "drag" Vanessa to the finish line. Vanessa had the last laugh as she finished second in the bunch sprint. Joseph Graffi also finished in the bunch to get 7th place. Unfortunately Jemma Werrell got a puncture, as a result she was unable to finish.

Tim Jacobs finished in 6th place in D grade, given Tim's lack of road racing this season he is happy with the result. Ron Whitehead & Ron Miller finished just behind the main field, well done guys.

In the juniors U17 & U15 raced together. In a bunch sprint Numa & Liam finished first and second respectively in their division, this adds to the impressive results they have been getting lately. Nathan Hardaker raced in under 15's,  he is not quite 13 years old and also getting great results, keep at it mate you are going great. These juniors are part of the North Coast Academy of Sport (NCAS) and we are proud to have them as part of our club.

A big thankyou to all the helpers on the weekend, without you riders cannot race.

Full Results

A Grade

 1 Geoff Straub         Armidale            2:50:44
 2 Nathan Chiswell      Coffs Harbour
 3 Mike Jackson         Gold Coast          2:54:03
 4 Matt Werrell         Gold Coast          2:54:37
 5 Daniel Alcock        Coffs Harbour
 6 Erin Rogers          Coffs Harbour       2:55:31
 7 Sam Harwood          Inverell            3:03:34
 8 Chris Jahnz          Coffs Harbour       3:04:03
 9 Craig Morley         Gold Coast          3:04:20
10 Rod Harding          Coffs Harbour       3:04:39
11 Sean Golding         Coffs Harbour       3:04:53
12 Mitchell Bullen      Armidale            3:05:01
13 Tristan Ius          CATS
14 Peter Spencer        CATS                3:21:28
15 Craig Scott          Coffs Harbour       DNF
16 Aaron O’Grady        Coffs Harbour       DNF

B Grade

 1 Adam Horder          Northern Rivers     2:04:45
 2 Craig Reston         Murwillumbah
 3 Michael Hoynes       Inverell
 4 Jon Guy              Murwillumbah
 5 Dallas Parker        Grafton
 6 Rob McElliot         Port Macquarie
 7 Peter Wilkinson      Armidale
 8 Shane Russell        Northern Rivers
 9 Tony Clarke          Northern Rivers
10 David Munday         Armidale
11 Jim Dolan            Coffs Harbour
12 Paul Howard          Murwillumbah
13 Darren Halliday      Inverell
14 Lewis Miles          Port Macquarie
15 Mark Skeates         Coffs Harbour
16 Jack Inwood          Port Macquarie
17 Aaron Newman         Macksville
18 John Nicholls        Murwillumbah
19 Matt Hoy             Coffs Harbour
20 Matt Vagg            Coffs Harbour
21 Dion Wilkes          Grafton
22 Murray Ormandy       Hunter Valley Vets  2:05:52
23 Adrian Thompson      Coffs Harbour       2:06:11
24 Michael Holt         Armidale            2:06:20
25 Phil Inwood          Port Macquarie      2:06:40
26 Anthony Mortimore    Byron Bay           2:07:56
27 Bill McElliot        Port Macquaire      2:10:44
28 Ryan Ackers          Coffs Harbour       2:11:26
29 David Leckenby       Coffs Harbour       2:14:03
30 Niek Mywill          Armidale            2:19:47
31 Steele Sutton        Balmoral            2:32:43
32 Joshua Breen         FFAST               DNF

C Grade

 1 Patrick Ainsworth    Armidale            2:13:33
 2 Vanessa McDonald     Coffs Harbour
 3 Peter McMahon        Murwillumbah
 4 Greg Williams        Murwillumbah
 5 Wayne Brien          Northern Rivers
 6 Frank Day            Northern Rivers
 7 Joseph Graffi        Coffs Harbour
 8 Kevin Stein          Northern Rivers
 9 Shaun Anderson       Grafton
10 Mark Wiggins         Kooragang
11 Chris Martin         Murwillumbah
12 Brad Miles           Port Macquarie
13 Ian Porteous         Macksville
14 Andrew Swan          Armidale
15 Greame Turner        Northern Rivers     2:14:15
16 Greg Warburton       Coffs Harbour
17 Steve Sanders        Port Macquarie      2:14:24
18 Kieran O’Grady       Northern Rivers
19 Rikki Corcoran       Grafton
20 Wayne Farrell        Coffs Harbour       2:14:47
21 Steven Alder         Northern Rivers
22 Carl Lee             Easts
23 Mark McGrath         Grafton
24 Brian Russell        Macksville
25 Matthew Liebregts    Manning Valley      2:15:27
26 Brian Liddell        FFAST               2:15:49
27 Paul O’Conner        Grafton
28 Ole Mikkelsen        Armidale            2:16:41
29 Dave Marshall        Coffs Harbour
30 Stuart Osman         Coffs Harbour       2:17:38
31 Jemma Werrell        Coffs Harbour       DNF
32 Tom Richter          Coffs Harbour       DNF

D Grade

 1 Megan Williams       Inverell            2:21:54
 2 Dave Anderson        Port Macquarie      2:22:20
 3 Creighton Dolbel     Inverell            2:22:43
 4 Mark Currey          Kangaroo Point
 5 Michael Higgins      FFAST
 6 Tim Jacobs           Coffs Harbour       2:23:10
 7 Craig Gibson         Northern Rivers     2:23:28
 8 Jane Halliburton     Port Macquarie      2:23:33
 9 Bruce Buxton         Armidale
10 Peter Creagan        Armidale
11 Garry Creighton      Northern Rivers
12 Brian Cockbain       Macksville
13 Stuart McPherson     Grafton
14 John Williams        Inverell            2:23:50
15 Jayne Creaner        Byron Bay
16 Glen Hannan          Byron Bay           2:24:25
17 Ron Whitehead        Coffs Harbour       2:24:37
18 Alan Miller          Coffs Harbour       2:25:13
19 Vince Breen          Grafton             2:25:32
20 Ian Lavery           Grafton             2:34:57
21 Trevor Creighton     Grafton             2:37:32
22 Craig Johnson        Macksville          2:45:23
23 Joe Cannon           Macksville          DNF
24 Ali Corcoran         Inverell            DNF

Juniors – U17

1 Casper Oxlee          Northern Rivers     1:07:00
2 Joseph Koch           Macksville
3 Angus Swan            Armidale
4 Rory Skinner          Northern Rivers
5 Codey Burton          Armidale
6 Sandon Watts          Northern Rivers
7 Keaton Ingram         Grafton
8 Dylan O’Conner        Grafton
9 Catherine Howes       Port Macquarie

Juniors – U15

1 Numa Warburton        Coffs Harbour
2 Liam Warburton        Coffs Harbour
3 Kasey Clark           Northern Rivers
4 Marc Adamson          Grafton
5 Mackenzie Monkhouse   Grafton
6 Nathan Hardaker       Coffs Harbour
7 Julia Petronia        Northern Rivers