Riders Meet Head Wind In Race From Timaru

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27471, 4 October 1954, Page 7

Riders Meet Head Wind In Race From Timaru

Seventy-one riders from all parts of the Dominion were on the starting line at Timaru on Saturday, when the Mayor (Mr R. E. White) sent the only limit man, F. Johnson, on the journey for the 100-mile New Zealand Cash

championship. Nine other bunches left at varying intervals until Mr White said “Go” to the four scratch men, who left 65 minutes behind Johnson. The race was won by L. A. Wright, of Stratford, off 18 minutes, and fastest time went to P. Doyle, of Christchurch, off 4 minutes.

Saturday’s race was the most gruelling that the riders have experienced for many years ■ in that they had to contend with a head wind for the whole journey, and a slow time of 5 hours 26 minutes 56.2 seconds was recorded against the record established in 1951 by E. McGuigan, of the West Coast, when he covered the distance in 3 hours 49 minutes. Two features of the race were that none of the scratch men completed the course and three of the break men went on gathering in bunch after bunch until all the riders left in the race were together in one bunch at Rolleston. At Temuka, the 44-minute men had Kicked up nine minutes and the break unch, who were riding strongly, were up on their handicap by 15J minutes with the scratch men one minute down. Soon after Temuka, M. Thompson (Southbridge), one of the break riders, punctured and dropped back, but was picked up by the scratch men just after Geraldine, but he, like the scratch men, retired soon after passing Ashburton.

Going through Geraldine, the bunches were in their respective groups except that the 11-minute men had linked up with the 13-minute group, and the break bunch had gathered in the 7-minute mark riders with the scratch men still losing time. At Ashburton, the oreak and 7minute men had joined up with the 11 and 13-minute riders, and now a bunch of 20 riders was only 16 minutes be- 1 hind the leaders, with the scratch men a 8A minutes further back. Here R. Lucas ' (Hornby) withdrew. The leaders through Ashburton were ’ the 44 and 38-minute men, who were now together and riding fairly strongly, z Johnson, off the limit, having retired, s At Chertsey, the leaders were 8 p minutes clear of the 32-minute men. a They were followed one minute later h by those left in the six bunches from 1 the 24-minute mark down to the 4- ® minute. This bunch comprised 26 riders * with the scratch men 11 minutes fur- t ther back, and now in a hopeless posi- q tion for time honours. The prominent t Dunedin scratch rider, D. Ralston, gave s up, and this left only two scratch men and Thompson, off the break mark, ‘ together. These three retired shortly ( afterwards. The relentless head wind was now < taking toll of the riders and with- t drawals were many. 1 At Dunsandel C. Carr (Greymouth), who had been riding strongly throughout the race in ■ the front bunch, was still in the lead with W. Seelen (Palmerston North) at Dunsandel. These two were five minutes clear of the next bunch of 20 riders, which comprised the balance of the field. At this stage Seelen was showing signs of tiring. Six of the big bunch made an effort to break clear of the remainder, but it was not very long before the other 14 were on again, and at Rolleston these riders had caught Carr and Seelen, and all the riders left in the race were together. At the turn off from the Main South road at Sockburn the riders went on to a shingle road, which had to be negotiated for about four miles, and of the 20 who went on together no fewer than 10 fell. Wright, the winner, also fell, but soon scrambled on again. Nine riders entered the Show Grounds together, and then had to do a complete circuit of the arena, which was about 300 yards. Wright was seventh to enter the dval, and with a brilliant turn of speed slipped past the other riders to win comfortably from I. Bills (Dunedin), with E. Wallace (Timaru) half a wheel away in third place. P. Doyle (Christchurch), who won the race last year, rode a magnificent race .from start to finish to take time honours from T. Gibbs, also of Christchurch, by 1.2 seconds. Gibbs also rode excellently. The Crowd which had gathered to see the finish of the race was entertained during a long wait with a fivemile novice race, and also with a marching display by the Red Robins marching team, which was last season’s champion Blue Star Midgets team. Abbreviations used in the results are:—Stratford (S.), Dunedin (D.), Timaru (Tim.), Christchurch (C.), Ashburton (Ash.), Tinwald (Tin.). Results:— L. A. Wright (S.) (18min), shr 40min 45sec, 1: I. Bills (D.) (18min), shr 40min 55sec, 2; E. Wallace (Tim.) (13inin), shr 35min 56sec. 3; P. Doyle (C.), (4min), shr 26min 56.25ec, 4; K Sutherland (C.) (13min), shr 35min 57sec, 5; T. Gibbs (C.) (4min), shr 26min 57.25ec, 6: J. Ryk (Ash.), (13min), shr 35min 57sec, 7; L. Collet (D.) (7min), shr 29min 58sec, 8; E. Ward (Tin.) (llmin), shr 33min 59sec, 9: W. Ferguson (Tim.) (18min), shr 41min Isec, 10 Fastest Time.—Senior: P. Doyle (C.) (4min), shr 26min 56.25ec. Junior: L. Collet (D.) (7min), shr 29min 58sec. Five-mile Novice.—M. Carmody 1, B. Burney 2, R. Harrison 3. Fastest time: S. King.

the Mamakus, near Rotorua, and the Kaimais, on the way to Tauranga; bumpy, dusty runs over rough roads, and speed duels over fiat stretches. Favourites for the event will probably be the New Zealand road champion, L. D. Payne; the runner-up in the Empire Games road race, P. Baird; and a former national road champion, F. N.

Geraghty. However, with proved distance cyclists like E. G. Lambert, B. J. Howlett, C. M. Simpson, B. Robson, A. W. Stonex, L. Davies, P. Harriman, J. McCrea, and N. G. Perkinson also taking part, the race is very open. The race will be in six stages. These are: (1) Auckland to Hamilton, 93 miles; (2) Hamilton to Rotorua, 124 miles; (3) Rotorua to Tauranga, 116 miles; (4) Individual time trial, Tauranga to Mount Maunganui and back to Tauranga, 38 miles; (5) Tauranga to Thames, 100 miles; (6) Thames to Auckland, 84 miles. There will be trophies for the first eight men home in each stage. Teams of four will compete for the teams’ prizes, and individuals for the title of "King of the Mountains,” awarded to the best rider over the hill sections. Strong contingents from Christchurch, Wellington, and the Manawatu will compete in the race, as well as riders from Nelson, Palmerston North, Stratford, Whakatane, Dannevirke, Te Awamutu, and Hamilton. Last year’s winner, G. R. Moore, will not be a competitor this year. The average age of the 39 competitors is 23. One rider is 18, and the oldest, E. S. Redward, is over 40. The cyclists are expected to average 22 miles an hour for the 554-mile journey. Moore’s winning time last year was 25 hours 23 minutes. The event is sponsored by a leading Auckland sporting goods firm, but trophies have been given by many other business firms.