Club Races
Lloyd Breaks Away for Win
Glenorchy/Wal Wal, Sunday 13th July 2008

	Tony Lloyd

Grampians Vets Cyclists could be excused for wondering if they belonged to an Iceberg Club in recent weeks, and Sunday morning’s racing was to be no exception as riders tackled the 48 km Glenorchy/Wal Wal circuit.

A strengthening northerly wind added to the riders’ discomfort as limit markers Shauna Heard, Meg Paranby and Les Power pedaled off towards Glenorchy, with Chris Scott, Tom Eldridge and Peter Mayo heading off in pursuit six and half minutes later.

Hot on their heels was the second scratch bunch of Leon Gibson, Tony Lloyd, Dean Hayward and Allan Barnett, and this group was able to join the bunch ahead shortly after Wal Wal, and then to reel in the limit riders shortly after passing through Glenorchy.

Meanwhile, scratch markers Gerard O’Brien, Drew Heard, Daryl Elliot and Peter Parnaby worked hard to reduce the margin to the combined bunches ahead, but were unable to close the gap over the concluding stages.

Approaching the final kilometres several riders attempted to break away from the lead bunch, but then Tony Lloyd managed to break free with two kilometres to ride, and held on for a good win ahead of Gibson and Hayward.

Gerard O’Brien led home the scratch bunch to take out fastest time of 1 hour 16 minutes 48 seconds.

Click to enlarge

Left to right - Leon Gibson, Dean Hayward and Tony Lloyd

Unfortunately this course is to be discontinued, due to the addition of 3 sets of 3 very nasty small “alert” bumps either side of the railway line at Wal Wal. When hit at 40kph, these are not kind on bike wheels, and one rider lost his drink bottle when it was vibrated out of the holder.