MID-CANTERBURY CHAMPIONSHIP

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 142, 29 March 1948, Page 5

MID-CANTERBURY CHAMPIONSHIP

CYCLING

36-MILE RACE R. KIRDY WINS The Mid-Canterbury Championship of 36 miles was held in ideal weather conditions over the rough Willowby block on Saturday. Last year’s winner, R. Kirdy, again repeated his performance, riding too strongly for his team mates and coming in a fairly comfortable winner. The veteran C. Gluestein, who has announced his retirement from the sport, also rode well to finish in second place, and 16-year-old J. Mullins secured third place. Fastest time was a duel between two of the most well-performed longdistance riders in New Zealand to-day —M. J. Luke, of Timaru, holder of the Christ church-to-Dunedin motor-paced record and 1946 winner of the Round Mount Egmont Race, and T. L. Peach, holder of the Cliristchurch-to-Hokitika and Christchurch-to-Nelson unpaced records. Both men rode from scratch, Luke gaining the fastest time honours from Peach by 35 seconds. Results were:—R. Kirdy (7mins.), lOGmins. 3Ssecs., 1; C. Gluestein (Si mins.), 2; J, Mullins, Geraldine (10 mins.), 3; I. Arnst (lOmins.), 4; R. Brunton. (4mins.), 5; A. Sampson (4mins.), 6; M. J. Luke (scr), 102mins. lOsecs., 7; (fastest time); J. Andressand, Timaru (lmin.), S; T. L. Peach (scr), 102mins. 45secs., 9 (second fastest time).

The prizes were presented at a dance held in the Tinwald Town Hall on Saturday night. The winner of the prize for most points obtained during the season was G. Crawford (45 points) with T. L. Peach (43 points) runner-up. These two riders raced very consistently throughout the season. A special prize for the most improved rider went to R. Brunton.