Vic Hills, Of Waitemata, Wins Kaikohe 80-Miler

Northern Advocate, 26 September 1949, Page 6

Vic Hills, Of Waitemata, Wins Kaikohe 80-Miler

FIRST NORTHLAND OPEN CYCLE CHAMPS.

KAIKOHE, Mon. (Sp.).—Eight riders, from. two of the major city clubs took part in the 80-mile open professional road cycling race staged at Kaikohe on Saturday. Held under auspices of the Kaikohe Athletic, Cycling and Axemen’s Club, the race was officially lifted by the Northern Athletic Union as the first Northland open championships, in senior and junior divisions. Weather was perfect for the fixture, having been dry for some days past and continuing so until some hours after the fiinish. . ....... The much-maligned Bay of Islands county roads and highwavs came in for a generous share of uncomplimentary criticism from the southerners, used as they were to the high-speed possibilities of tar-sealed surfaces, but the county grader had done its best for them during the past week.

Twenty-four started, there being not one scratching. This was creditable, in view of the fact that three of the visitors from the city who had railed their racing cycles at Auckland on Thursday morning found they had gone astray “somewhere in Northland’' en route.

Non-participating locals spontaneously offered a selection of machines, and the unfortunate city men “had a go.’’ However, gears and tyres were strange to them and all three were forced to fall out of che race.

Only eight of the original two dozen were able to cover the gruelling five laps of the 16-mile course, which ran from the Mangakahia road intersection at Kaikohe. west through Te Iringa and the Piccadilly road to Tautoro, then home by the Mangakahia road again.

HOW WINNER CAUGHT THE FIELD

The initial Northland championship fixture was notable for many reasons. First, it was won by one of the toughest hill cyclists in the Dominion today—Waitemata's Vic Hills. Only a week ago Hills had won the Auckland provincial 25-mile championship. run by the Auckland club. He has also done some spectacular cycling in Australia this year. Last Saturday he rode the first three laps so fast that he gained an average of 10 minutes on the field in each of them. In the fourth he had a puncture, yet gained seven minutes. The fifth he appeared to take a little more comfortably, but still made excellent time. He was 26 minutes better than the second fastest man. LIMIT MAN’S FINE EFFORT The race was hardly less remarkable for the brilliance of Paul Pettit, the local boy who made good by staging a wonderful finish to cross the line second only to the champion. Hills. Pettit turned on a remarkable effort. He began on the limit, 42 minutes, with three others and was not caught by Hills until halfway round the final lap. Even then, he was able to come up the straight and cross the line only two'minutes behind the winner. But Pettit was not the only local boy to make good. In fact, only two visitors came into the prize-list, and only three completed the course.. Third, fourth and fifth* places in the big event were taken by Bay of Islands club riders—Gil Petersen, Merv. Linwood and Bill Parr.

George Abraham, from Pukekohe. on 8 minutes, annexed the Northland junior championship. Fie rode a' hard race throughout and. at the tender age of 18, shows promise of ability right .up in national standard. Abraham also gained awards for second fastest senior and fastest junior times.

THE PLACINGS On his time, Merv. Linwood won the restricted local title of Bay of Islands club champion. His 80 miles took him just four minutes longer than Abraham’s did, and he was seven minutes aheqd of his next-best teammate, Gil Petersen, who was actually third to cross the line. On the line finish, placings were as follows: V. Hills (Waitemata) 1; P. Pettit (Bay of Islands) 2; G. Petersen (Bay of Islands) 3; M. Linwood (Bay of Islands) 4; W. Parr (Bay of Islands) 5; G. Abraham (Pukekohe) 6; D. Bagshaw (Bay of Islands) 7; S. Hayes (Waitemata) 8. * Times of the finishers were as follows: V. Hills, Ihr. smin; G. Abraham, 4hr 31min. 44see.; M. Linwood, 4hr 35min. 47sec.; G. Petersen, 4hr. 42min. 55sec\; S. Hayes, 4hr 46min. 14sec.; P. Pettit, 4hr 48min. 57sec.; W. Parr, 4hr 49min. 48sec.; D. Bagshaw, 4hr 57min. 4Gsec. CLIMBED 250 FT IN A MILE The race led for the first mile along the town’s main tar-sealed street, continued on loose metal for the next 14£ miles. Three-quarters of each lap was either level or downhill, but that last section more than tested the climbing capabilities of the riders. It took in the locally notorious hill known as “Jacob’s Ladder.” That “hot spot” is just one mile four chains from bridge to aerodrome road. Yet in that distance—in fact, in only 72 chains of it—the climb is exactly 253 feet, , It includes an awkward and bumpy rail crossing, it is loose metal from end to end, it is extremely winding, and it is corrugated on every corner. The big race was given a breezy and up-to-the-minute commentary over a public-address system by Mr Jack Osborne, Northern Athletic Union official handicapper. His efforts contributed in no small degree to the fixture’s success. FRIZES PRESENTED

The crowd of 100 or more at the finishing line (around 2.30 to 4 p.m.) stayed to hear the presentation of prizes by the Mayor of Kaikohe (Mr H. F. Guy). Before the limit men started, the Bay of Islands County chairman (Mr H. T. Atkinson) wished them luck. After it was all over he was constrained to make a defence of the county roads in response to the chaffing of several riders. Other speakers included the president of the organising club (Mr C. L Nisbet) and various contestants who were called to the microphone. One of the most popular of these was the amazing veteran of road cyclists, “Slater” Hayes, who confessed to having been doing competitive riding since he was 15—and that was 30 years ago. Old-timers of Northland sport may recall his winning a Dargaville-Whan-garei road race ’way back in 1925 or thereabouts. On Saturday, he was one of the eight to complete the course —nor was his the slowest time!