A group of keen BM racers headed to the Naki for the latest round of the WCNI Road Race Series last Sunday.
As we know BM is part of a group of Regional Clubs from New Plymouth through Hawera, Whanganui Manawatu and Horowhenua finishing south of Levin.
The beginnings of WCNI date back to the early 1930’s and at its’ peak the inter-club rivalry was fierce to say the least.
Racing was graded from A-E with the A and B grades doing 4 laps and the grades below completing 2 laps of a pretty savage 15km circuit.
The charge was led by Thomas Stannard and Ethan Craine in A grade, Michael Craine, Michael Richmond and Tim Lloyd in B grade, Graeme Bull in C grade and Kyra Craine in D grade.
Very tough course , racing with seasoned club racers who are well versed in club racing was expected and certainly didn’t disappoint. .
First to crack was Ethan who had a misdemeanour with a chainsaw the day before and was nursing a taped up calf muscle. Ethan is training really hard this year under guidance of Jessie Sargent and is going from strength to strength, but every dog has his day.
Thomas Stannard had his place in the bunch for the majority of the race but the 4th lap took it’s toll on the pack and he finished just of the bunch, once again a young man going places fast.
B grade was the race of the up and comers, has beens and never really had it’s,,,Michael Richmond winning B grade, Michael Craine cracking on the last lap and Tim Lloyd doing his usual PPP…..and loving it.
Graeme Bull and Kyra Craine flew the flag in C and D grades and finished behind the bunch but held their heads up the whole way.Great to see Steve Stannard out on the bike supporting on the day.
The great parts of the day were the interclub atmosphere, the coffees and food at the end, Awesome organisation and banter and the school swimming pool to cool off in.
Club racing really is that..racing. As much as we all blow our own tyres up about who has the fastest segment of Strava , racing with equal or similar ability riders representing your club is a bloody great day out.
Bike Manawatu has a lot of Road Racing for club trophies over the next 6 weeks or so with our round of the WCNI series at Halcombe on April 15th.
With the Woolworths Cup in Pahiatua next weekend, Valley Road Hillclimb the weekend after, TT’s on for the next few weeks there’s plenty going on.
The Manfeild 6 hour Challenge is coming up in May and new this time is a 90 minute solo E Bike Challenge..(Conditions apply)
A group from Lone Star Cycling are off to do the 4 day tour of Northland next Weekend, 360kms of racing, 4500 metres of climbing, 509 excuses and a few laughs…
We look forward to the debrief in a few weeks.
Keep Peddling…
Tim