The pace was on however and James paid for his effort dearly missing out on the next hill. None of the boys were able to wrestle from Scott Ambrose the advantage he gained in the prologue. Regan Gough finished 8th on GC and the other stars from the Rotorua CRI tour all missed out on the top 3 in GC. Damien Lysaght finished the stage well and was next best from the bay with a very credible 13th. Tobias Robertshawe 20th and Luke Mudgway 33 both finished with the bunch in the final stage, Ben Ross and William Green had mechanicals. Wills DNF'd after not being able to get a compatible 9 speed rear wheel and this ruled him out of the sprint competition. Ben Peterson finished the difficult stage made harder by a 4 km strip sealed during the week with chip that was as coarse as any we have seen in NZ.
Kerri-anne Torclker won the open womens after dropping her chain before the hill on the first lap and fighting back to the peleton. Su Daniels rode well hanging on for two laps and just missing out on the last after chasing back on several times. Hannah Van Kampen shows as a DNS after losing her tag in the crash the day before. The $50.00 dollar fee for the tag replacement is under dispute and the organizers elected not to give her a time until replaced and this in no way reflects the efforts that Hannah had put in. We will all be wishing her better luck at nationals. Megan Watson continued to improve as the event went on and should be able to hold her own in Whanganui next month.
Fraser Gough continued to show his class but was unable to pull back the TT deficit from James Oram and had to settle for 2nd 9 seconds down on GC in the u19's. Logan Bean 20th 1:20 down on GC was impressive and gets stronger with every race. Sam Clarke had a Mechanical on the last stage to finish down on GC after looking promising last week.
Phoebe Treseder amazed us all with her hill climbing strategy, looking down and out on the last climb of the day but came to life like a startled rabbit after some "subtle" encouragement from coach Ivar and pulled back 75 meters on the hill to return to the bunch and finished 5th on the stage and 4th in the points competiton. Devon Hiley from Auckland showed her class and rode away from the bunch to backup her win in the event last year. Maxyna Cottam took 2nd GC. Holly Atkins finished 13th.
Amanda Jamieson CHB finished 4th in the U15 girls after unfortunately missing out on a split in the 2nd stage where the 3 girls who made the podium escaped with a break in the combined boys race and put on an unassailable lead in the GC.
Corbin Mason Smith one of the few riders to back up from the previous week was one of the better performers and shows he will be a medal prospect at nationals. He finished 2nd on GC, 3rd on the final stage, 3rd KOM and 2nd in the sprint.
Ivar Hopman and his team of helpers, Camp Mother Ashleigh, Onion Peeler Grant Garrity, Laundress Caroline Atkins, Time Keeper Penny Gough and the weekend casual crew all contributed to another great camp and all will be looking to a rest this week, especially Ivar who will qualify for the PGR team this weekend.
- Posted using BlogPress
