Sport
3 December, 2025
Tough conditions greet cyclists
THE Camperdown Cycling Club held its eighth race in the summer series in windy conditions last week.
Pre-race the club’s leadership group took the juniors for a warm-up session, rolling around the saleyard warm-up loop.
The riders learnt about warming up pre-race and enjoyed the social contact with all riders before the race.
There were lots of chatting and socialising before the race, allowing riders to put their minds to the racing on the road.
Race eight turned out to be Henry’s night.
He rode strong around the course and had a big smile as he crossed the finish line in a time of 12.50.
Second over the line with three seconds space was limit rider Bede with a time of 14.08.
Third was Finny who literally gave everything throughout his ride with a time of 14.26.
Other riders’ times were Archie 14.33, Lawson 12.16, Taj 12.16, Bentley 11.48, Ava 12.41, Nathaniel 10.57, and fastest time was scratchman Josh who crossed the line with a time of 09.36.
The senior race saw seven apprehensive riders gather at the Camperdown Saleyards for the club’s first sealed handicap in recent years.
The riders started as one bunch, knowing they were unlikely to finish that way but not knowing how their finish times would be adjusted to decide the victor.
Todd wound the pace up off the line, but as soon as he steadied, Shaun attacked the bunch.
By the first sweeping corner, Shaun and Todd were off the front swapping turns.
Oliver chased hard and looked like he might get across, while Alistair and Josh looked at each other to do the work.
Tanya worked to keep in touch and Matt Clark was looking for the ‘e’ that dropped off his name.
By Choclyn the two out in front had stretched their lead, while Alistair had jumped across to Oliver (with Tanya and Josh further back working to minimalised their time losses).
The three pairs worked hard together all the way to the finish where Shaun jumped away from Todd, Alistair outsprinted Oliver and Josh rode away from Tanya.
Riders then patiently awaited while the handicaps were revealed.
After the calculations were done, the adjusted times were:
1st place Todd Baxter (23.52– 0.10), 2nd Shaun Thompson (23.48– 0.0), 3rd Tanya McKenzie (28.44– 3.45), 4th Oliver (26.47–1.45), 5th Alistair Tune (26.45–1.00), 6th Josh Thompson (28.44–2.20).
This left Matt Clark to present himself with the wooden spoon.
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