Road: Townsend Wins in the Wet

The continuing deluge led to greatly reduced numbers at BSCC's Mt. Misery road race today.  The club's elite riders are doing battle at the Tour of Geelong, and many others are taking a mid-winter break.  As a result, only about 20 riders entered the race, scheduled as a handicap over the Mt. Misery circuit.  Steady rain through the night and into the morning meant that only about half this number were signed up at start time.  Race officials Chris Liston and Gerard White, standing in for Phil Orr, did a quick poll of the riders and decided to run the event as an all-in scratch race.  Because of the miserable conditions, the small numbers, and the presence of cyclists who would normally ride A, B and C grades, the riders made an informal agreement to keep the group together until close to the finish.  The agreement held: the field rode two abreast along the Avenue and as far as Addington.  From then on they worked at a solid but manageable pace. 

The potentially drought-breaking rain over the past week has resurrected Lake Burrumbeet, and left many patches of standing water on the course, which the riders negotiated without mishap.  Top seeds Scott Townsend, Scott Keating and Shane "Jedi" Cody made occasional surges, then remembered the agreement and eased back for the field to re-group.  Melissa Keirl and Lewis Piccoli, fresh from strong rides in the Tri Series, rode strongly to stay in touch, as did visitor Barry Pollock from Mildura.  Despite the agreement, the pace gradually lifted as the finish drew nearer, with Peter Kiel and Clive Silcock, last week's Tri Series star, looking strong, along with the steadily rising Craig Lightfoot.  The pace was very solid on the last two rises between Ercildoune and Weatherboard, and as the field took the right-hand bend to head for home, Scott Keating decided it was time to further hone his growing form.  He single-handedly lined the field out in the gutter with 3 km to go, and maintained the pace until Scott Townsend hit the gas from five wheels back with 250m to go.  Jonathan Lacey, on Townsend's wheel all the way, was in the box seat, but he had nowhere near enough power to challenge clear winner Townsend, nor the super-strong Cody, who took second. 

A big thank you to Chris Liston, Gerard White, Tim O'Doherty and all the other marshals who made the race possible.  Marshalling takes longer than racing, and is wetter and much colder in these conditions.  Props also to the RecTTT riders, who greatly out-numbered the racers, and in many cases worked harder for their post-race coffees.  Maybe some of them will show up to the club road championship in four weeks and give the racers a fright! 

BSCC senior all-in scratch race, Mt. Misery: official results

1.  Scott Townsend (A) 1:25:01
2.  Shane Cody (A), s.t.
3.  Jonathan Lacey (A), s.t.
4.  Craig Lightfoot (1st B), s.t.
5.  Peter Kiel (A), s.t.
6.  Barry Pollock (Mildura) (2nd B), s.t.
7.  Scott Keating (A), s.t.
8.  Clive Silcock (A), s.t.
9.  Matt Smith (3rd B), s.t.
10. Melissa Keirl (B), 1:27:08
11. Lewis Piccoli (B), 1:27:42

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