Club Races
Guys Versus Gals
Laharum Handicap - Sunday 4th November 2007

Following a wild night of storms and heavy rain across the Wimmera, it will be no surprise to anybody that only four die hard (one could think of other terms!) cyclists turned up for the Laharum 65km event. Gale force winds continued to blow skiffy showers across the region, keeping conditions damp.

So .... who were the crazy ones? Well, Allan Barnett - of course. Allan placed second at a Camperdown club race last week and is planning to race in Bendigo next week, so training is high on his agenda.

Training is also a priority for Frank Kean who is competing in the Ararat Club's Mt William Classic, raced over 130km this year, to be held next week. This is a torturous course starting at Halls Gap, heading down towards Dunkeld, then turning over the Mirranatwa Gap and on to Dunkeld before returning to finish at the top of Mt. William.

Meg Parnaby and Tania Walter turned up too. They have both entered the AVCC National Age Group Time Trial and Road Race Championships mid November. They will be up against the best in the land and needed to toughen up.

Now that we have provided some dubious justifications for the attendance of this hollow headed foursome (the average wind speed between 10 and 11.30am in Stawell was about 36kph with gusts above 60kph), we can get on with the exciting details of what became a race of pride more than anything.

When your pride is at stake you certainly don't want to get lost. None of the riders where familiar with the course but fortunately Police Officer Power turned up at 09:15am precisely in his divvy van (minus his bike) and conducted a pre-raid briefing (ie verbally took us through the circuit). The riders then asked for a Police escort but he left in a hurry telling us to ring 000 if we got into trouble.

Parnaby, still not confident with the directions, took some rags in her back pocket to tie on corner posts. Walter considered leaving a trail of bread crumbs (tut-tut! – she didn’t learn anything from Hansel and Gretal!).

The gals left full of chat with a 10 minute advantage on Kean and Barnett.

Parnaby stopped to place her rag on the post at the Wonwondah turn off. The gals continued to discuss their accommodation requirements for the Nationals. By the time they got to the Henty Highway they were in a good rhythm, silent and over the rag thing. They meant business; but the wind took them down as low as 22km per hour in sections.

The guys were having a tough time in the furious wind too. They had expected to catch the gals along the Henty Highway but they were no where in sight. They decided that they were probably lost because they hadn't located any rags for some time. The wind changed to an easterly gale just before the Brimpain corner resulting in an unexpected nasty cross wind that annoyed the riders to no end. It was time to hold onto your handlebars real tight and dodge the stray sticks all over the road. As the road veered around life became more manageable but the two groups were still well separated. The girls thought maybe the guys had got a flat tyre.

Click to enlarge

Tania Walter, Meg Parnaby, Alan Barnett, and Frank Kean

To avoid embarrassment Kean and Barnett put the foot down at Wartook and chased down the gals catching them 3 kms from the finish line.

Everybody was satisfied with their performance and full of excuses why the guys and gals hadn't met up sooner. Barnett kept up well with the younger Kean thanks to Frank doing 80kms in the hills the day before. Parnaby is riding stronger than ever and held on well to the younger Walter.

Better still, the race was great fun and Gayle's Choc Chip Muesli Slice was tasty afterwards!