Brunswick Cycling Club

Hamish and Andy Visit Clinic

With the news of potential special visitors the junior clinic was scheduled to start half an hour earlier than normal, and an eager 51 riders turned up for the special day. It was a cool morning but promised to be a perfect day for racing.

After a good warm-up, racing started with a round of scratch races for each grade. There was good close racing through all grades (Aces to I grade!) with good skills on display. Making the atmosphere even more electric was one half of Team Handsome, Brendan Bailey, commentating on the microphone.

At about 9:30 a van pulled up with our special guests and out stepped Hamish and Andy, who were at Brunswick as part of their Bi-Bi-Tri-Bi-athalon challenge. Shortly after arriving Hamish and Andy were presented with their own Brunswick jerseys (complete with their names across the back) by Nathan and Vanessa Bof. A big thank you to Connie and Paul Bof from Giramondo sportswear for making the jerseys at such short notice.

It was planned that Hamish and Andy would race in a 4 lap team pursuit with Jess Morgan, Ben and Matt Ladner. The team they would be racing against would be made up of five of the gun clinic regulars in Emily Hughes, Sarah Gigante, Stephen Foggiato, Ryan Schilt and Adam Boyd. The clinic five had challenged the coaches to team pursuit and the coaches called in some help in the form of Hamish and Andy.

After a short on air interview with Jess Morgan, Hamish and Andy were given a quick overview of the sport of track racing. They then got out on the track to get used to the club’s Hillbrick bikes they were to use for the challenge. Even after a warm-up Hamish and Andy were still looking a little bit unsure about their challenge.

It was time for the big race, the clinic five lined up in the back straight with Hamish, Andy and co in the front straight. It wasn’t sounding positive for the Hamish and Andy team as moments before the start Andy was heard to ask where his training wheels were?

The starters whistle went and both teams were off. The clinic five were quickly into formation and swapping turns in a nice close bunch. Hamish and Andy on the other hand didn’t seem quite so comfortable sitting in and a few gaps were seen during the race. It was a good race by both teams but in the end Hamish and Andy’s team was too strong.

After a brief rest Hamish and Andy were challenged to a 30 second challenge, both accepted. Andy went first and set a respectable time of 35.61 seconds. Hamish went next and managed a time of 34.56 seconds. After this it was time for Hamish and Andy to move on to the next sport in their Bi-Bi-Tri-Bi-athalon challenge.

After all of this excitement some people might have been ready for a nap, but not those at the Brunswick clinic, they kept powering on.

There was another round of scratch races for each grade. Again the racing was close with great skills shown by all riders. Of note was the second win of the day by Travis Tankard, a fantastic effort.

The final race for all riders was a 30 second challenge. All riders put in a massive effort to record quick times.

Overall it was a fantastic day of racing in perfect weather conditions, a huge thanks to everyone who helped on the day and kept it running smoothly, in particular the Morgan family, Brendan Bailey, Benedict Hughes and Blakey.

Everyone is now looking forward to the Clinic Family Day on Sunday 28 March. There will be scratch races for kids and parents, family/paced time trials, raffles and lots more excitement. This should be a fun way to end the Summer Clinic Season so everyone get down to the track if you can (but don’t forget clinic will run once a month through winter).

This entry was posted by B. Ladner on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Reports, Sunday Clinic.