Club Races
Monaghan Wins Greg Smith Memorial.
Horsham - Sunday 6th
May 07
The Greg Smith Memorial race was held
in perfect conditions starting from Golf Course Rd,
Horsham. This club race is regarded as one of the most
important races on the club calendar as Greg was a
great athlete and highly admired amongst his peers.
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Danny
Monaghan |
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Nineteen Riders were split into six
groups. The 4 minute bunch, comprising Stuart King,
Danny Monaghan, Dean Hayward and Tom Eldridge managed
to average 37.7kms over the 65 km Rifle Butts course,
to eventually chase down the three groups in front
of them.
Their goal towards the end of the
race was to make the 2 minute markers of Gerard O'Brien,
Drew Heard, Richard Clark, Tony Lloyd and Michael Kelly
work damned hard to catch them.
Heard and O'Brien made
a last ditch effort to compete in the sprint but they
were still 40 metres behind when Danny Monaghan lead
the 4 minute group across the line. Having recently
returned from America, he has found his cycling legs
very quickly.
Second place went to Tom Eldridge
with Stuart King third.
It was no surprise to Merv Thompson
that Kerryn Prouse hung on for 4th place. He said "She
can hang on all day". Prouse started with only
one partner, Meg Parnaby, from the 16 minute mark,
and they worked well to not get caught until the Mallee
Road Hill approx 12 kms from home.
Gerard O'Brien rode the fastest time
of 1:35min during the presentations spoke of his days
riding with Smith. When thanking his group for helping
him get fastest time, he singled out Richard Clarke
for putting in a 100% effort on the day, just as Greg
Smith would have done.
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click to enlarge |
Left
to Right - Danny, Stuart, Kerryn, Tom and Gerard |
Monaghan, in his acceptance speech,
commented that the Greg Smith Memorial had a bonding
effect amongst the riders, reminding us all to look
after each other in our small community.
Thanks also go to Alan & Gail
Barnett and David Cariss for their help on the day.
More information on Greg Smith, written by Club President
Frank Kean, can be found here.
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