HARD RIDING

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 74, 25 September 1922, Page 10

HARD RIDING

TIMARU TO CHRISTCHURCH

RESULT OF BIG ROAD RACK.

(BK TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

CHRISTCHUnCH _24th Sept.

There wore one hundred and twelve competitors in the Timaru to Christchurch road race yesterday. The resalts were:—

W. Mackie (Ashburton), 40min hop. 1 G. M'Kenzie (Ashburton), 40min. ... 2, H. F. Prebble (Christchurch), 30min. 3 E. Feron (Ashburton), 36min 4 C. Bell (Christchurch), 35min 5 H. Amst (Ashburton), 42 mm. ... 6 The winner's time was 6 hours 22min 34sec; M'lCenzie's, 6 hours 23min 20sec; and Prebble's, 6 hours 19min 12sec. The prize for fastest. time was won by the veteran, Phil. O'Shea, whoee time from scratch was 5 hours 54min 23sec. He gets the road championship of New Zealand.

The race started in glorious ■weather at 9 a.m. The [two scratch men, O'Shea and Shalders ? both" of whom were in good training, kept within easy reach of each other until Temuka was reached, after 32 minutes' solid moving. Two more miles had been covered when the veteran made , the pace a veritable "cracker," and Shalders had his work cut out to keep up. Passing by "Winchester at 10.45 they caught Arthur Bonis (29 minutes on), who had had a puncture just outside Temuka, and for some time the three paced together. Geraldine was reached at, XI.B. M'Gregor (the limit man) was first through at 10.20 a.m. For miles past Arundel the riding was uneventful, but near the Hinds bridge, after Bonis had got another puncture, the two scratch men passed Sufcton (17min), who took up with and paced them. It was 1 o'clock before O'Shea arrived at Ashburton. Shalders had a puncture, and left 12 minutes after O'Shea.

Six miles from Ashburton saw Lawson (39min.) dropt out, and a bit later Coulter dropped off leaving O'Shea the leader of the heavily-handicapped men. He soon caught Forrester. Just ahead of these two was a bunch of 12, j which gave way to the rear men.

Half-way between Chertsey and Rakaia a team of 10 put in some hard work, taking turns in pacing at 17 miles an hour. At Rakaia the race was led by some of the men with big starts. Once over the Rakaia bridge the cyclists bunched up again, and at the head of a team of 14, and a quarter of a mile in front, R. J. Sim was going well by himself. A mile and a half further H. P. Amst (Ashburton), who had 42min start, was by himself fighting against cramp. Coming through Dunsandel, where they got a drink, W. Mackie (Christchurch, 40min.) was leading, M. P. Leathamf (Christchurch, 42min), was second, J. Henderson (Christchurch, 40min) was third, and L. F. Hill (Dunsandel, 42min) was fourth. Mackie and Leatham got a good lead on the others after leaving Dunsandel. The fifth man was A. Hill (Motukarara, 44min), a long way back, and J. Simmons (Halswell, 49min) was sixth.

O'Shea, who had made excellent time, was fifteenth. At Burnham the positions were the same. ' Outside Burnham, near Rolleston, five men were ahead of the field; almost three miles ahead was young Mackie, in the lead. He finished first at 3.42.