Brunswick Cycling Club

Brunswick Cycling Club was well represented at the third annual Scotty’s foundation carnival weekend which was presented by Scotty’s Foundation in partnership with CSV. Scott Peoples was one of Australia’s most talented young cyclists and was on the brink of breaking into the cut-throat world of professional cycling in Europe. Tragically in December 2006 Scott was killed whilst on a training ride near Mansfield in regional Victoria.

To honour Scott’s memory the Scott Peoples Foundation was formed to assist in the development of junior cycling in regional Victoria.

Across the weekend Brunswick had riders in many of the events; Dylan Newell, Nathan Elliot, Mark Holloway and Kendelle Hodges competed in the Criterium, a hotdog circuit which was lead out hard by the locals. Nathan Elliot did well to win B grade convincingly.

In the juniors, Tyson Breen, Liam Hood, Bryce Holloway, James Payne and Isaac Payne all competed in the Scotty’s Twilight track carnival, competition was good and spectators enjoyed the atmosphere and the great facilities at the Shepparton velodrome.

On Sunday the C and D grade Scotty’s race started at 8.00, Kendelle Hodges, Conor Murtagh, Andrew Gannon, Luke Fry and I lined up in a good field of around 70. As it was my first race I sat on the back to see how things unfolded. We left town under police escort waiting for the commissaire to drop the red flag. Riding was good with not too much jostling for position, then the flag was down, and no big increase in pace. I was feeling good, as I was comfortable with the pace. It didn’t last long, as soon as we turned east the leaders put the foot down, as the wind was cross head there was nowhere to hide, and we all tried to hug the gutter and keep up, my speedo records 57.1kmh on the flat while trying to keep up. Needless to say I soon lost the wheel and was first to end out the back.

I sat up but kept rolling hoping others would soon also be dropped and we could form a second bunch, not long and another sat up, I caught up to see if they wanted to do turns, no luck they were pulling out. (The thought crossed my mind!) I kept chasing as the peloton drew slowly away. Soon I saw another few dropping off so I put my head down to catch them, I tried again to suggest doing turns, but no luck so I passed them too.

Then I noticed the support car helping someone back on the road, so I chased on. It was Tony Ryan, a local who was in the lead group of 8, but had crashed so had some bark off his elbow, when he suggested track turns I gladly accepted, so on we went. Soon the two of us were working well and we caught another and the three of us were starting to make some headway. We then caught Luke Fry and so the 4 of us did rolling turns into the wind as we turned back towards Shep. I appreciated the local knowledge, as Tony was able to tell us where the junctions were, so we stayed on course! Then it came to town, and we put on some speed for the last few k’s, I was feeling ok as we turned into the straight and so with the finish in sight I thought I would try a sprint – only to be well and truly rolled… but I had done it, 75 k’s in 2 hours 5 minutes at an average speed of 33.88 kph, Like Scotty would have, I kept going, and made sure I finished.

Andrew Gannon was the best placed Brunswick rider in C and D, followed by Conor and Kendelle, with Luke just making it across in front of me! (Full results available at vic.cycling.org.au)

It was a great weekend, and a fitting tribute to Scott Peoples, and well organised by Scotty’s foundation. Put it in your diary for next year and make sure you visit the foundation website for more information – www.scottypeoplesfoundation.com.au.

Cheers, Benedict

This entry was posted by B. Hughes on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 12:02 pm and is filed under CSV/CA Open, Reports.