TREK CCC Summer Criterium Race Report #4 / #5

Another abridged ‘greatest hits’ Race Report for Rounds 4 and 5, for which
apologies to the many riders whose self-sacrifice, race craft, and valour won’t end up
immortalised in the pages of the CCC Race Report as their efforts doubtless
deserve… but being perpetually short on time as I am, only the very best made the
cut for this edition.
At least A Grade can be dealt with succinctly. Ben. Hill. Dominated. Enough said.
Actually, not enough said, his exploits deserving a little more praise than that after
showing incredible versatility starting with a downhill sprint victory over the
heretofore Sprint King of the Stephen Hodge Criterium Circuit, Tom Chester, and
then backing up a week later with an epically timed solo breakaway win, Tom this
time riding wingman to keep the chasers in line. It will be interesting to see what Ben
has in mind for Round Six and don’t be surprised if he throws in a self-imposed ‘stop-
go penalty’ just to keep things interesting.
Beyond Ben and Tom’s exploits, A Grade has treated us to some thoroughly
entertaining racing across both weeks, if not also quite unsociable with the endless
attacking and counterattacking seeing an abundance of single file and enforced
‘social distancing’. Josh Bilski needs some time in the limelight after back-to-back
strong performances, animating the race with attacks of his own as well as working
hard to bring anything dangerous under control. And after a Round Five podium
place just ahead of a fast-charging Hayden Stevens, seems Josh has moved himself
firmly into the Canberra Fast Men camp and will no doubt be knocking on the door of
his first win in the weeks ahead. Tiffen Cycling as a collective also deserves a nod,
with Eddie Mungoven returning to racing and ‘old men’ Mick Tolhurst, Matt Rizzuto,
and Dennis Mungoven show casing the red jersey with bold attacks and some crafty
sprinting netting Tiffen a top ten finish or two. Lastly, strong men Rob Jeffries and
Caleb Antil might not have puzzled their way onto the podium yet, but they have
been more than willing to get stuck in, notably with some big efforts to split the bunch
or daring bridges to join the action out front. Seriously, if you’re not entertained by
watching our A Grade racing, then time to take a trip to the Handlebar for a quiet
beverage along with a healthy dose of introspection and soul searching; we really
are blessed with the ding-dong battles that are unfolding week-in-week-out!
B Grade was a Tale of Two Crit(ies) with Round 4 more closely resembling a roller
derby and Round 5 a figure skating performance. Calvin Coombs emerged best from
the melee in Round 4 to edge out Glen Sinnott, with John Forrest making his long
awaited return to the podium, while Rainer Wilton proved supreme a week later as
he bested Ben McCarthy and Baden Burke in a much more civilised encounter.
Kudos to Andy Blair, Matt Corby and Thomas Wood on both occasions for trying to
up end the traditional sprint finishes with early attacks, while Callum MacIver has
taken all of ‘no time’ to get up to speed in B Grade with some impressive riding and
positioning. For the women, Claudia Marcks has shown herself to be the benchmark

with two impressive wins, finishing fifth overall in Round Five as she rubbed elbows
with the fast charging men at the end of the race. Laren Bates has been no less
impressive with two second place finishes and has seldom positioned herself outside
the top ten, while Kim Pederson has also been more than able to mix it with the B
Grade peloton.
In C Grader, Lara Dawson captured the publics’ attention after showing little in the
way of self-preservation as she attacked, chased, and generally just made the riding
awfully hard for everyone else in Round Five. Will Astridge has equally shown
himself willing to push hard on the pedals and prone to the occasional solo bid for
glory, while Adam Martin was another serial offender when it came to showing
precious little regard for bunch cohesion and just generally ripping it off the front.
Only marginally less of a ‘fire starter’ was Ash Watts who always seemed to be well
positioned throughout Rounds Four and Five, and quick to bridge when anything with
potential went away up the road.
But despite the heroic efforts of the aforementioned, the ‘Peoples’ Race’ seems to
have a propensity for sprint finishes and what would the Peoples’ Race be if it didn’t
give the people what they wanted? So it proved in both rounds as the fast men found
their way to the front at exactly the right moment, Baden Burke edging out Pete
Rogers in Round Four (who may or may not have tapped his brakes within sight of
the finish line in an ultimately fruitless effort to avoid promotion…), while Dan
Gowling found his way back to the top step of the podium a week later after drag
racing clear of Nick Wilson and Wayne Pettett. Ash Watts, meanwhile, went back to
back for the women while simultaneously moving up the overall leaderboard, with
Lara Dawson and Talia Chambers keeping each other honest in the battle for the
remaining podium spots.
For D Grade, the standout moment was from Round Four when Annika Astridge set
a Guinness World Record the fastest cadence ever recorded by a human as she
emerged from the top bend in Round Four to lead the bunch sprint for the line… all
while riding a 5.5m roll out on u13 gearing! While Mark Cantrill just got the better of
her in the final meters, Annika has shown herself to be more than capable of staying
at the sharp end of the race and it’s anyone’s guess as to what she’ll be able to do
when she gets another half meter rollout to play with in twelve months’ time. Marek
Bilski has also been enjoying a run of good form with a third and first respectively,
while Bill Shelly has also impressed with some cagey riding and strong positioning.
Book ending the junior showcase – and with any potential conflict of interest duly
noted – Archer Peppinck was the crowd favourite for Round Five putting in not one,
not two, but three full throttle attacks and repeatedly looking to blow the race apart.
While he wasn’t able to land the killer blow, he had enough left in the tank to still fight
it out in the sprint for a memorable fifth. Hugo Williams was also never far from the
action, bridging to Archer in a potential race winning moving and foreshadowing a
combination that we may see off the front repeatedly in the years ahead, while Maja
Torres-Schmidt was also willing to put her nose in the wind and up the tempo.

Ellie Lamnden was the standout rider in E Grade for Round Four with a convincing
win, while Ollie Guile was super strong a week later to merit the handicapper’s
attention for a potential bump to D Grade in the weeks ahead. But it was u11 Lachie
Copeland who won the crowd over on both occasions with his never say die attitude,
fighting on solo to keep the break in sight and showing great bunch craft to hang on
in the company of more experienced riders. And as for the Junior HC… it’s continued
to be the George Williams v Alex Steele show, with the score one a piece across
Round Four and Five. Round Four was an absolute cracker with Alex making up the
half lap on George in the closing stages only to see an audacious George attack
repeatedly, maintaining the rage all the way to nail biting sprint with Alex just
prevailing by a tyre width.
Heading into Round Six and the weather is looking somewhat ominous with
thunderstorms predicted. How that will influence the racing remains to be seen but if
what we’ve had to go by so far is any indication, it will be fast and furious from the
get-go. Come along and enjoy a ‘Stromlo famous’ (with massive growth potential)
‘crit dog’ while being spoiled with Canberra’s best crit racing all the while enjoying
the dulcet tones of Canberra’ own ‘Hollywood’ Andy Yates on the microphone!