by Glenys Taylor | Dec 13, 2014 | News
Not sure whether it was the daunting prospect of Ngahere Park or whether everyone is just too busy at this time of year or the other possibility is that everyone is saving themselves for other events or recovering from events from last week.
Whatever the case on near perfect conditions a tough handful of riders showed up at the end of Tiritea Rd for the start of the hill climb champs.
Thanks to John Arbuckle who went and set the end flag in position and to Graeme Ransom who held riders on the start line.
An interesting fact for you before the results are presented. We used this same course a couple of years ago when the gorge was closed, which left using the Saddle Road not an option. At this point in time 29 October 2011 Thomas Stannard completed the course in 20 mins 16 secs. And looking at the results from that day he was the only rider to return. A few years growth and he has managed to chop his time right back to 16 mins 37 secs. I wonder if in another 3 years will he be able to chop off the same amount of time.
Some very close times resulted for the top 4 riders and it was unfortunate to say the least that Nev Weir dropped his chain. Otherwise he would have had a scorcher of a time.
Madi Hartley-Brown was the first to appear at the finish line making it look as if there was no effort required at all. His time was 12 mins 21 secs. Dylan Simpson completed the hill climb in 12 mins 39 secs. Fergus Washington Smith was the next of the junior riders to finish in a time of 14 mins 30 secs. Max Taylor’s time was 14 mins 35 secs and 14 mins 53 secs for Ethan Craine.
Matt Watts was the first of the senior riders to arrive in a time of 12 mins 11 secs. Gideon Burke had gone on a reconnaissance warm up ride and only just made it back to the start line seconds before his allocated start time. So with his Dad, all the way from the UK looking on, he produced a time of 12 mins 14 secs. And to show how close these men were Nevs time was 12 mins 15 secs.Barry Wilson completed the climb in 12 mins 47 secs and Nigel Doyle completed the climb in 13mins 13 secs Thirteen is not an unlucky number for him.
Libby Arbuckle was the first of the women home and will take away the womens cup with a time of 14 mins 43 secs – a great result considering the amount of extra weight in the form of bandages that she had to carry up the hill. The only other women competitor this year was Peita Ransom who finished in a time of 17 mins 31 secs.
by Glenys Taylor | Dec 12, 2014 | Archive(News)
Well, what a fantastic weekend of racing. And what a marvellous event that Bike Manawatu is able to put on. Everyone who was involved should be extremely proud of what we achieved. Here are a few statistics to try and put it into perspective:
Riders
· 154 entries
· Seven grades, each grade racing four stages over two days
· In total, between all 150 of them (4 non-starters), they cycled over 18,000km, even allowing for a few riders who pulled out.
· To give you an idea of the quality of the riding, for the 15km Time Trial along the Pohangina Valley Road, the slowest average speed for an U13 rider was a leisurely 22 km/h and the fastest, for the U19 Men’s winner, was a rather more sprightly 47km/h.
· We had one crash (during the Linton Circuit Race) and everyone walked away from that.
· Entry fees received were $3,555 and, most importantly from the rider’s perspective, prize money paid out, $3,100.
Volunteers
As you might expect, marshalling, controlling and organizing the above involved a considerable effort.
· We had over 70 volunteers helping out with a total of 170 different tasks at some time over the weekend. Some were there for every stage and some just for one.
· For each road stage we needed 28 vehicles, made up of lead car, Commissaires car, spares van and sag wagon for each grade. This meant 28 drivers, 7 Commissaires, and 16 mechanics circling the course.
· We had marshall’s standing on almost every corner and King of the Mountain and Sprint judges scattered at various places around the course.
· Traffic management was provided by Horizons Signs and paid for by a grant from Pub Charity, as was on site standby of a St John ambulance for every stage.
· Back at “base camp” we had people who prepared and distributed lunch packs for those out on the road, and put on a smashing afternoon tea during the final prizegiving.
· We had Matt Levin and Chris Croton, “the timing guys” who spent many hours poring over spreadsheets and manipulating databases to ensure that the results were delivered on time and (mostly!) correct.
· Our facebook page was kept constantly updated with the latest news and information.
· Other club members, friends of club members and neighbours of club members lent us everything from generators to caravans,
· Not to neglect mention of the dedicated committee who made the whole thing happen.
Those volunteering included parents of current and past riders, club members, club members parents, and all of the Bike Manawatu Board members. Thanks again to one and all.
Sponsors
For our wonderful sponsors, we couldn’t put on such an event without you;
· Hotel Coachman, our naming rights sponsor, had over 30 riders and their families staying during the tour.
· Our Tinelli yellow leaders jerseys, green sprinters jerseys and polka dot King/Queen of the Mountains jerseys were on the road for 620km.
· We had four Stage sponsors;
· RD1, Stage 1 Hiwinui Loop
· Central Bicycle Studios, Stage 2 Linton Criterium,
· Cash Converters, Stage 3 Individual Time Trial, and
· Hughes Joinery, Stage 4 Valley Road Circuit.
· Café Cuba sponsored the King of the Mountain prizes,
· Tinelli, the Sprint prizes, and
· thanks to Humphries Construction we were able to introduce a new prize in the Under 17 and Under 19 grades for Most Aggressive Rider.
· Wyckliffe Printing prepared the podium backdrop that you see in all of our jersey presentation photographs.
· Finally, Maskill Contracting provided a curtain sided truck that gave elevation and shelter to the finish judges and was most appreciated.
And finally, the reason we do it, to support and encourage our local youngsters. Congratulations to all of them. Here is a list of Bike Manawatu competitors;
Under 13 Girls and Boys Under 15 Boys
Kyra Craine Ethan Craine
Zoe Croton Madi Hartley-Brown
Jamie Dennis Dineth Rajapakse
Adam Francis
James Gardner Under 15 Girls
Fergus Lloyd Samara Fenn
Rosie O’Brien Kelly Levin
Michael Richmond Connie O’Brien
Peita Ransom
Anna Robson
Under 17 Boys Under 17 Girls
Fergus Allan Libby Arbuckle
Chris Denholm Megan Gardner
Mitchell Kinghorn Emily Shearman
Andrew McKenzie
Jacob Sievwright
Cody Simpson
Dylan Simpson
Thomas Stannard
Under 19 Men Under 19 Women
James Denholm Michaela Drummond
Nate Levin Elizabeth Stannard
Carlos Lopez-Lozano
Robert Stannard
Hayden Washington-Smith
Alex West
Joel Yates
Thanks once more to all those who helped out in one way or another, to the Bike Manawatu Board for their suport, both in the lead up and on the day and to my fellow Committee members, in no particular order, Brendan Hapeta, Mike Simpson, Glenys Talyor, Kim Anderson and our legendary Race Director, Peter McCarthy, who made the Novice Tour Committee the best Committee in the Universe (it’s official!!).
Katherine Stannard
