Club Races
Limit by a Whisker
Polkemmet Handicap
Sunday 30th May 2010

	Damian Rabl

Grampians Veteran cyclists headed to the open undulating country north west of Horsham for the 54km Polkemmet Road handicap last Sunday.

Normally a windy course, it lived up to expectations with a stiff southerly adding an extra degree of difficulty to an already tough course.

Limit markers Meg Parnaby, Damian Rabl, John McIntyre and domestique Peter Parnaby set off with a ten and a half minute lead over the scratch riders, and worked smoothly to keep the chasing riders clear until the closing stages of the race.

Four minute riders Gerard O’Brien, Alan Barnett, Daryl Elliott and Daryl Hobbs worked hard to make up ground on the limit riders, with the high pace taking its toll on Barnett and Elliott three quarters of the way through the race, leaving O’Brien and Hobbs to continue the chase on their own.

With about 15 kilometres to go, O’Brien and Hobbs had the limit markers in their sights, but were still about 500 metres behind. With 9 kilometres to go, they had cut the distance to about 300 metres, and it looked like it could go to either bunch.

Over the closing stages, some strong turns by Peter Parnaby and Damian Rabl managed to keep the limit riders clear, with Rabl taking out the sprint from Meg Parnaby. Hobbs came in third, just missing the limit riders by 100 metres.

The scratch riders Danny Monaghan, Dean Hayward, Drew Heard and Sean Prins found their 4 minute deficit over the bunch in front too much to make up, and finished about a minute later, with Prins taking out the sprint for fastest time.