Cycling B. LANG WINS AVON CLUB ROUND-THE-BAYS EVENT

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 3

Cycling B. LANG WINS AVON CLUB ROUND-THE-BAYS EVENT

The Avon amateur club held its annual Round the Bays race on Saturday. The Christchurch amateur club competed for the Hartnell Cup. and the Papanui riders journeyed to Timaru to race against the Timaru club for the Frank Grose Cup. The Hornby cash club held a 40-mile handicap event. AVON CLUB The Round the Bays race was a triumph for B. Lang who. riding from the break mark of 5 minutes, finished third, and also took fastest time. The race was run from the Addington railway station out through Motukarara then over Gebbies Pass through Teddington and then round the harbour through Lyttelton and over the hill to the finish on Linwood avenue. On the run out to Gebbies Pass the riders had the benefit of a following wind and made good time over this stretch of the course. The first rider to reach the top of Gebbies Pass was N. Stuart off the limit mark of 22 minutes. He breasted tlie summit half a minute clear of his comarker, G. Austin. At this stage the limit riders had dropped two minutes to the next bunch and had lost eight minutes to the scratch riders. When the break riders, B. Lang and G. Painter, reached the top they were 10 seconds down to Fowler, oft scratch. Fowler was the. first scratch man over. Just after Teddington Fowler punctured. From there to Lyttelton the riders were facing a head wind. Stuart was still the leader at Lyttelton with B. Cook, Austin and G. Lang two minutes behind. On the climb up to the top of Evans Pass these three riders gathered in Stuart. B Lang, who had passed the bunch in front of him off 9 minutes, was the next rider through Lyttelton. Riding strongly, he caught the other four at the top of the pass. After reaching the flat at Sumner B Lang tried desperately to shake oft the other four, but only succeeded in losing Stuart. The four riders remained together to near the finish when they were watching each other for a sudden break. Cook led out and went away to a comfortable win of between two and three lengths from Austin, who just managed to hold second place from B Lang by inches. Results were’.—

B. Cook (16min), 2hr 14min 40sec, 1; G. Austin (22min), 2hr 20min 42 sec, 2; B. Lang (smin), 2hr 3min 43 sec, 3; G. Lang (16min), 2hr 14min 44sec, 4; B. Wallace (9mln), 2hr 12 min 2sec, 5: P. Wood (smin), 2hr 9min 23sec, 6.

Fastest Time.—B. Lang (smin), 2hr 3min 43sec. CHRISTCHURCH CLUB

At Halswell the Christchurch Club held a 50-mile scratch event for the Hartnell Cup. G. Shepherd was the winner. The pace was very steady throughout the race and most of the riders held together for the greater part of the journey. Fifteen miles from the finish Shepherd. B. Berry. B. A’Court and J. Swanston rode away from the rest of the field and gradually opened up a big gap on the others. About five miles from the finish the brilliant junior, Swanston. punctured and this put him out of the contest. The other three carried on and in a desperate finish Shepherd held on to win from A’Court with Berry in third place. Results were:—

G. Shepherd 1, B. A’Court 2, B. Berry 3. G. Hill 4, W. Hensley a. Time, 2hr 14min 25sec. Sealed Handicap.—B. Berry (2min), 2hr 12min 25.25ec, j; G. Shepherd (Imin), 2hr 13inin 25sec, 2; B. A’Court (scr), 2hr 14inin 25.45ec, 3. PAPANUI CLUB

The Papanui riders had an overwhelming win over Timaru on Saturday in the annual race for the Frank Grose Challenge Cup at Timaru. This race is a handicap one run on a points system. The cldb with the lowest number of points wins. The winner is allocated one point and all other riders given the number of points for their placing. Papanui in taking the first four and the seventh place won by 17 points to 54. From the start the Papanui riders teamed well and did not give the Timaru riders any chance. With a limit of 111 minutes the riders from Papanui off this mark and the next bunch off 9 minutes made an excel* lent team when they got together and they dominated the race. The distance for the event was 25 miles and the fastest time went to the Timaru rider. D. Craig, with two Papanui riders. K. Taylor and H. Bush, filling the minor placings for time. Results were:—M. McLachlan (Papanui) 1, L. Crawford (Papanuii 2, J. Clemence (Papanuii 3, R. McMillan (Papanui) 4, P. Howes (Timaru) 5, G. Coles (Timaru) 6. R. Green (Papanui) 7. Fastest Times.—D. Craig (Timaru > 1 K. Taylor (Papanui) 2. B. Bush (Papanui) 3. MAIREHAU NOVICE G. Gilmour rode an outstanding race on Saturday when he went right through the field from scratch to take first place and fastest time in the Mairehau Novice Wheelmen's nine mile handicap event. Results were:—G. Gilmore 1. A. Forgie 2, D. Bailey 3. Fastest Time.—G. Gilmore, 23mm 56sec. HORNBY CASH CLUB D. Swanston. who has just returned to competitive cycling after a break since the closing of the track season, scored a double on Saturday when he took first place and fastest time in the Hornby club's 40-mile handicap event on the West Coast road. The race was run from the Riccarton Racecourse to just past Kirwee and return and was a very difficult one for near the turn the riders were facing a head wind from the north-west, and then on the return shortly after leaving Kirwee they again had to contend with an easterly head wind. The wind near the turn was very strong. Because of scratchings on the

scratch mark Swanston was left on his own, and under the circum- ( stances his handicap was shortened by 1J minutes. Swanston made full use of this shorter handicap and before many miles he was up with the break men, off 2 minutes. The shorter handicap riders held together in their bunches for the outward run but at the turn the smin and 7min bunches were together as were the 3Jmin, 2min and scratch, now only Bmin behind the leaders. On the return journey the bunches began to close up and at Yaldhurst the leaders were caught by the back men and there was a bunch of 15 riders to dispute the final sprint. Going from the main road towards the racecourse the pace was on and 400 yards from the finish R. Lucas led out. In a desperate sprint Swanston got through to the front to hold on and win from R. Craig, with B. Leatham third. Considering the conditions. Swanston's time of Ihr 35min 45sec, was excellent. Swanston not only took the senior time honour, but also the junior. Results were:— D. Swanston (IJmin), Ihr 35min 45sec, 1; R. Craig I2min). Ihr 36min Isec, 2; B. Leatham (2min), Ihr 36 min 2sec, 3. Junior and Senior Fastest Time.— D. Swanston (IJmin), Ihr 35min 49teec.