Club Races
Mt Arapiles Classic 55km Handicap
Sunday 24th November 2015

The Field

	Edwin Irvine

Scratch
Shane Miller, Frank Kean and Alan McCulloch.

12.45 Minutes
Dean Hayward, Drew Heard, Tim Schneider and Edwin Irvine.

22.30 Minutes
Veronica Micich, Tony Lloyd

27.30 Minutes
Meg Parnaby and John McIntyre

Race Results
1st Edwin Irvine
2nd Tim Schneider
3rd Dean Hayward
4th Meg Parnaby

How the Race Unfolded.
A moderate south westerly made for a generally tough race, with the long stretch from Mitre across to the highway being predominately a head wind, resulting in slower averages than the previous few years when we had lucked out with generally calm conditions.

Limit riders Meg Parnaby and John McIntyre headed off first, and made good time despite the averse conditions. An out of form pair of Tony Lloyd and Veronica Micich went off next, and struggled under the conditions, eventually being caught several kilometres before the last turn onto the Wimmera Highway by the second scratch riders, who were flying and with 4 riders had the advantage in the windy conditions.

Shane Miller led the scratch riders charge with some help from Alan McCulloch and Frank Kean, but Miller was the powerhouse and must have ridden at least two thirds of the race out in front himself.

At the base of the climb, Meg Parnaby and John McIntyre led by 1 minute 20sec over the second scratch riders Edwin Irvine, Tim Schneider, Dean Hayward and Drew Heard, who had really put in well to this point of the race. Irvine, Schneider and Hayward caught Parnaby half way up the mount, during a hard fought battle between the three of them. Irvine tried to break free 3 times but was reeled in on all occasions, but a fourth time near the top succeeded and he went on to win by 9 seconds from Schneider, with Hayward a further 2 seconds behind.

Meg Parnaby was fourth, just ahead of a charging Shane Miller, who whipped up the hill in an amazing 10 minutes 47 seconds, a race climbing record that is sure to stand for a long time to come, and also gave him fastest time.

Winners Time
Edwin Irvine - 1 hour 40 minutes 28 seconds
Average speed of 32.93kph

Fastest Time
Shane Miller - 1 hour 29 minutes 20 seconds
Average speed of 36.94kph

Weather Conditions
Moderate south westerly.