Grampians VVCC Open 2007
McNaughton Breaks All Limits!
Halls Gap - Sunday 26th August 07

NOTE - The following race description was gleaned from various sources, and is an approximation at best. Please overlook any minor inaccuracies, as it is not possible to see the whole event as it unfolds. Feel free to contact us if there are major errors in facts!

Check out the race photos here.

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	Bernadette McNaughton

Geelong cyclist Bernadette McNaughton was all smiles as she crossed the line first in the major event of last weekends Grampians Veterans two day VVCC cycling Open.

Riding in Sundays 61 kilometre handicap, McNaughton not only brought up her first ever win in a major event, she was also the first woman and the first limit rider in the races 10 year history to win the event. Along the way she also won the sprint bonus and topped it all off with the first lady rider prize money as well.

The 128 strong field set off from Halls Gap at 10am, first riding to Pomonal, then turning towards Stawell, crossing to Mokepilly past Lake Fyans, before doing a big loop around Lake Lonsdale to finish at the Halls Gap end of Fyans Creek Road

Riding from the 35 minute limit mark, McNaughton partnered with Grampians rider Larry Bales and Hume rider Maria Simon for most of the race, after losing one rider from their group early on.

Twenty kilometres into the race, the second group of riders, off 26 minutes, had gained 4 minutes on the limit riders, mostly due to the efforts of Grampians rider Les Power.

Further back, the 20 minute riders were also working well, with Grampians riders Dean Hayward and Tania Walter along with Ballarat rider Terry Collie and Geelong rider David Robinson driving the bunch along.

After reaching the Illawarra Road, and the half way point, the limit riders still had a good 3 minute lead over the following bunches, and seemed in with a real chance of holding off the rest of the field. The 20 minute and 26 minute bunches had combined, while the 17 minute bunch, after some early hard work by Ballarat’s Peter James, and Grampian’s riders Stewart King and Tom Eldridge, were pulled in by the 14 minute riders.

This combined bunch was then split up again soon after by a sudden attack on the first of the Sandbar Road hills. Three 14 minute Grampians riders, Daryl Elliott, Jamie Bennett and Harvey Lang hit the hill hard, with the intention of separating the wheat from the chaff.

The next three bunches, the 12, 9 and 7 minute groups were all working hard but seemed stuck in no mans land. Despite all their efforts, these three groups stayed apart for the whole race, finishing in that order although closer together.

Meanwhile, at the back of the field, the scratch riders had flown down the road to Pomonal, taking 2 minutes off the 3 minute bunch within the first 17 kilometres, and also dropping several of their number along the way. These two bunches combined at Mokepilly, and rode together until well along the hilly Sandbar Road before combining with the 5 minute bunch. But perehaps they went too fast too early, as they seemed to fall into a hole in the later stages of the race.

With 12 kilometres to go, McNaughton, Bales and Simon were still working well as a team. However, at the top of McCrackens Hill, McNaughton took off to claim the sprint bonus, and Bales lost contact with her down the other side.

McNaughton continued to ride solo for the rest of the race, helped by a trailing wind that reduced the effectiveness of the chasing groups. Passing Mount Dryden with 6 kilometres to go she had a 300m lead over Bales, with the first of the bunches still well behind. Coming into the final long finishing straight, she looked to have the race sewn up, but then the combined 20 and 27 minute bunch appeared about 250 metres behind her, and right on their tail was the combined 14 and 17 minute bunch.

Another Geelong rider, David Robinson, broke free from the first bunch and sprinted for the line. All McNaughton could do was give it all she had left, and hope that she did not have a repeat of her Rochester Open experience earlier this year, where she got to within 100m of the line before being swamped by a large group of riders, and didn’t even finish with a place.

But this time the wind was in her favour, and McNaughton crossed the line with a clear margin ahead of the exhausted Robinson, who just held off the final charge of the chasing two groups that had combined into one half way down the straight.

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Bernadette McNaughton is all smiles as she crosses the line in first place.

Grampians rider Daryl Elliott timed his sprint perfectly to grab third place from Central Vics Cindy Magro in fourth. Elliott also picked up the prize for first Grampians rider. Stuart King was the next best Grampians rider in seventh place.

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An exhausted David Robinson just hangs on to take second place ahead of Daryl Elliott and Cindy Magro

Scratch rider Scott Keating recorded the fastest race time of 1 hour, 24 minutes 15 seconds.

Saturdays graded scratch races were also well attended, with 59 starters in the five categories. Winners were:-

Division 1: 1st Steve Young (Geelong),2nd Brett Fisher (Eastern), 3rd Andrew Weightman (Ballarat)

Division 2: 1st Gavin Rowbottom (Geelong), 2nd Peter McDonough (Geelong), 3rd Jeff Pretto (Eastern)

Division 3: 1st Ken Heres (Ballarat), 2nd Ivan Howes (Hume), 3rd Daryl Elliott (Grampians).

Division 4: 1st Jamie Bennett (Grampians), 2nd Cindy Magro (Central Vic), 3rd Stuart King (Grampians)

Division 5: 1st Brian Long (Geelong), 2nd Keith Dorling (Geelong), 3rd John Wilson (Eastern)

Check out the race photos here.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU

The Grampians Club would like to thank all those who helped make the event run as smoothly as it did, and who helped on corners, with salads etc on the day. A special thank you to Tony Lloyd who was the main organiser behind the scenes, and to the VVCC race officials and handicapper who always do a magnificent job beforehand and on the day.