The boys all raced in the under 17 B grade event. Saturday consisted of 2 road race stages, the first 28 ks and the second 27 ks.

In the first stage all the boys finished in the lead bunch of around 15 riders with Nathan getting 4th and Numa also placing. In the second stage it was very slow going from the bunch with no one in the bunch willing to work or attempt a breakaway. In a bunch sprint on a narrow road Numa miss judged the length to the finish and went from around 400 out, determination saw him get the win. The other boys finished outside the placing but within the bunch.

The next stage on Sunday morning was a 4.6 k time trail. All the boys were happy with their efforts as it resulted in them all being in the top ten except Alex who was sitting in 12th. The last stage was a 61 k road race on a very hilly/undulating course. A boy from Parramatta Cycling Club broke away in the first 10/15 ks. The bunch allowed the rider to build his lead up to around 3 minutes at one stage. Once the bunch realised that they needed to start chasing riders started to drop off. All the Coffs boys were still within the bunch pulling turns and looking comfortable.

With around 20 ks to go Nathan dropped off, up to this stage he had done a lot of work trying to pull the leader back, also the cold thin air did not help. At around 15ks to go Alex started to cramp and felt the effects of the chase. He gritted his teeth and sat on wheels to get to the end with the bunch. With the leader getting tired the gap fell to 1 minute, he was able to hold onto this to the end.

Numa won the bunch sprint for second place. Liam was also feeling the strain at the end and was happy to sit on the back of the bunch for the last few ks. Alex and Liam finished at the back of the bunch sprint. At the time of writing I did not have the final results however Numa, Liam & Alex would have finished in the top ten.

Alex’s weekend was topped off by receiving the under 17 encouragement award. Nathan, Liam & Numa are heading to Canberra for a junior tour in 3 weeks.  Alex may contest the Qld junior road titles in 4 weeks. All the boys should be happy with their weekend. I know that they are very grateful to their parents for taking them across. Tamworth always put on a great weekend of racing.

David McDonald

Alex Beedie made the most successful attempt, but the gap was eventually closed down by the strength of Sinclair Black. Sinclair and fellow strong man, Jim Dolan set a strong pace on the flats and the downhills, while the Warburton boys, Liam and Numa took over whenever the road tilted up.  This relentless pace setting kept everyone at the upper end of their lactic threshold, and made for an honest race. The end of the race came down to a sprint between those strong enough to stay with the pack and withstand the fast pace. The podium showed a Warburton trifector with Numa outsprinting brother Liam, and father Greg filling third. Greg’s strategy of hiding in the bunch for the whole race proved to work well, allowing him a strong finish.

Kristy Ylinen again proved why she is being watch closely by all in D grade with another strong performance, although it was age before beauty this week and the win went to Ron Whitehead with Kristy second, and Dennis Fogharty in third.

Kristian Parkhill had an outstanding debut race in C grade and looks set to make a speedy climb into B grade. Kristian is a local triathlete looking to try his hand at road racing and will no doubt go into the next tri season stronger for it. With Kristian standing on top of the podium the usual suspects Friedy and Alan Miller were left on the lower steps this week.

Oliver Robb and Alyssa Saward kept the junior racing honest and again showed plenty of courage to get out on the road and do battle with the wind.  With no one to hide behind the juniors have to do all the work and their efforts are on par with the strongest in any grade.

A grade had an awesome pace this week, and along with it came some awesome tactics.  With Dan Alcock driving the pace on the flats at around 50klm/hr, and then the likes of Reece Edwards and Aaron O’grady attacking the climbs in the mid 30’s, it wasn’t long before Nathan Chiswell started pointing fingers and looking for others to help out. Unfortunately for Nathan most were just trying to hold on, let alone see the front of the pack.  Chris Andrews rode well as did Sean Golding to hold on until the last few klms, but it was Dan who blew everyone away and won ahead of Nathan Chiswell, with young gun Reece Edwards in third.