Riding for CHB Kerry Harford had to call on all of his sprinting nous and courage to win the Vet 3 men's gold. Craig Hoskin and Steve Wright had been away for most of the race with the Gap out to 2 minutes going into the final lap. Stu Imrie got the big motor going motivating the peleton to close the gap to 45 secs going into the last hill. With Blair Suthridge on his wheel Kerry kicked at about 500 meters catching Craig and Steve with about 150m to go. They looked around but couldn't muster the energy to respond after the 80 km's away. With no choice Kerry kept the hammer down and Blair was unable to get past. Kerry was quick to praise Ramblers riders Jeff Flatt (22) Austin Mortimer (6th) and Darryl Strachan (9th) who did a lot of work in the pursuit of the leaders.
In changing weather conditions Kerri-Anne Torckler rode strongly to go one up on her TT Bronze to take the Silver in the elite women's race. Phillippa Sutton took the gold with Mel Burke 3rd.
Hannah Van Kampen was unlucky again not to medal and was pipped into 6th in a bunch sprint won by Sophie Williamson in the U19 womens. Hannah rode well on the hills and with any luck will have caught the selectors eye. An insect bite (spider ?) forced Megan Watson out of the race with an inflamed calf.
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The Vet 1 Men's finish showed true sporting spirit
after Gordon McCauley acknowledged Karl Murrays outstanding ride and didn't compete the sprint.
Karl Murray and been out the front of the race all day dropping one other rider before Gordon jumped across. Karl and Gordon stayed solo for another two laps before taking the honors. Mel Titter was third about 2.5 minutes back closely followed by the remaining bunch. Ramblers Paul Langford and Dylan Stewart both had excellent rides finishing 9th and 13th respectively.
Blair Heney 14th and Bruce Herron 17th were the best of the ramblers in the Vet 2 men's grade totally dominated by Aaron Strong. Aaron escaped early in the race to get pulled back by the peleton in the second lap. Unfazed he went again in the 3rd lap and stayed away to finish by over two minutes on the decimated chasing bunch.
Friday was a tough day for the Ramblers riders. Phoebe Treseder was riding well in the u17 girls with the Ramblers supporters looking forward to her sprint prowess. It wasn't to be however with 2 minor crashes in the last lap splitting Phoebe out from the leading bunch. Maxyna Cottam took the bronze with Devon Hiley continuing her dominance of this grade and taking the Gold. Holly Atkins finished 18th.
Regan Gough Silver behind Mark Findlay in the u17 Boys with Damien Lysaght 9th the best of the Ramblers usurping some of the other top riders. Mike Garrity had one of his better rides of late for 17th place in the near 70 strong field.
CHB Corbin Mason Smith CHB just missed out on the double again being pipped in the bunch sprint by Sam Dobbs to take the silver.
Amanda Jamieson CHB 4th in the u15 girls also a bunch sprint.
Peter Strong CHB 4th in the Masters 8 men the Gold taken by Gray Ulmer.
Alan Black frustratingly 4th in the Masters 6 Men's after an on road agreement was reneged.
In the Vet 4 men the Ramblers riders missed out on the early break With Jim McMurray, Tony Catterick, Andrew Morrisey and Scott Molina too strong for the field. Bret Harte was once again unlucky dropping his chain and losing his tag early in the race. Bruce Lochhead 20th, Bret 21st and Kevin Burgess 22nd struggled to motivate the large bunch to work effectively to bring back the break.
Still Chasing Gold on the way home.
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