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Club Races
Monaghan Two in a Row
Rifle Butts Long course
- Greg Smith Memorial
Sunday
27th April 2008
Danny Monaghan
sprinted his way to victory in last Sunday’s
annual Greg Smith Memorial 60km handicap, taking out
the event for the second year in a row.
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Danny Monaghan |
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Long training
rides and high kilometres per week have brought Monaghan
back into form very quickly, after returning from a
work commitment in the USA only four weeks ago.
Sunny but cool conditions prevailed
for the race, with very light winds - much better than
the forecast rain and strong winds.
Limit
riders Meg Parnaby and Les Power rode off 20 minutes,
and managed to hold off the 7:30 minute riders Danny
Monaghan, Tony Lloyd, Peter Blair and Peter Mayo until
the final turn with about 4km to go. Behind them, 6
minute riders Peter Parnaby, Gerard O’Brien and
Daryl Elliott managed to take 30 seconds out Monaghan’s
bunch within the first 10km, but then failed to make
up much more ground.
Further back the 3:30 minute riders
Harvey Lang, Alan Barnett, Drew Heard and Mark Uebergang
were also making hard work of it, until they were caught
about half way by scratch riders Ian Blackie, Steve
Monks, and Frank Kean.
This combined bunch, largely
pulled along by the super strong Blackie, bridged the
gap to the 6 minute riders with about 8km to go, picking
them up as they went past.
By this time, Monaghan’s
bunch had caught the limit riders, and were making
for home thinking they were still well clear, until
one of their number pointed out how fast the chasing
pack were closing in. This spurred some urgency, with
Peter Blair starting the sprint a long way out, only
to be overcome by the flying finish of Monaghan, who
went on to win by 10 metres. Blair finished second
with Lloyd third and Mayo fourth.
The rest of the field
finished only 200 metres behind. Fastest time went
to Ian Blackie, with 1 hour 31 minutes.
Special Thanks
To Merv Thompson of Horsham Cyclery
for donating the trophies.
To Steve Monks for the great BBQ he
provided after the race.
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