The invite had been put in all Tour de Manawatu race packs to come out and do a race with the club . Bring out the card and get it stamped and you would go in to the prize draw for a box full of goodies. The box and the stamp were present, but unfortunately no one put there card in the box. So the final chance to get your card in the box is Sunday morning at Memorial Park.
Yes there were plenty of kids that came out to Hiwinui to compete in the Junior Club champs. And yes they did bring their parents but not one was dressed in bike gear. So there were plenty of people to help with marshalling on the course and on the finish line. Thanks to the marshalls Karen and Wayne Fenn, John van Lienen and John Robson. Special thanks to Mike Simpson who as commissaire checked all the rollouts on the junior riders. Also thanks to Alex Croton who did a marvellous job of ringing the bell.
The juniors who will be competing in the Novice tour in a couple of weeks had a bit of a wake up call when they found that some of their gearing was incorrect. And Mike who went out on to the course informed some of them that their riding needs to improve, especially crossing the centre line. The commissaires at Novice tour and other national events will not be so kind.
There was careful consideration on what course to use due to the presence of roadworks on Taonui Rd. But on the advice of Barry Gilliland it was decided to keep with the Hiwinui, Watershed, Colyton circuit which is an 18km lap.
The first riders off were those older riders that were set down to do 4 laps. They were followed 5 minutes later by the under 17 riders who were competing for club champs and riding 3 laps. The next time gap saw the older riders competing 2 laps sent on their way followed by another time gap to the under 15s who were also completing 2 laps.
The final bunch off was the under 13 riders who were completing 1 lap.
Cups will be awarded at end of year prizegiving to financial members.