Cooltong was the venue for the Riverland Cycling Clubs handicapped road race. With varying levels of fitness amongst the peloton, riders were separated by time and distance.

 First off the line for a 6 lap sufferfest was the duo of Lee Rasheed and Frank Sullivan. 7 minutes behind them and the strongest group of the day was Mick Gray, Terry and Clayton Bond, Peter Burr and Gordon Pipe. A further minute behind this group but having a reduced distance, down to 5 laps, was the trio of Angelo Ylia, Glen O’Brien and Dennis Robinson. 13 minutes behind the limit group and also having to complete six laps was the scratch group of Steve Jaensch, Ken Ridley and Lee Stevens. Last away and on her own was Sue Lahainer, starting a full 18 minutes behind limit but only required to finish 4 laps.

All groups worked well, pushing hard trying to take advantage of their head starts. As the weather moved in so did the scratch group on the power group of Gray, Bonds, Burr and Pipe who had by now joined forces with Rasheed and Sullivan. On the uphill run Stevens lifted the pace to shake off the slower riders. Only Pipe and Bond Junior managed to stick on the back wheel of the scratch trio as they charged up the Muur de Cooltong. All the pacemaking from the back was to no avail as Ylia, O’Brien and Robinson had picked up Lahainer and made hay for the finish line to snaffle the first four places.

On the line an ecstatic Robinson claimed his first win since January edging out a determined O’Brien, Ylia stormed home to round out the podium. Although Lahainer was dropped late on the last lap she was still able to hold onto 4^th place. In a five-way sprint Jaensch was able to hold off fellow scratch man Ridley for fifth place and the title of fastest rider for the day. Behind Ridley was young gun Gordon Pipe who was able to outsprint Stevens and Bond Junior. Of the remaining riders Terry Bond was able to claim 10^th place by outsprinting Rasheed. 12^th place went to Peter Burr with Sullivan in 13^th and Mick Gray completing the days racing in 14^th.

Next week sees the Riverland Cycling club head to Lyrup for a Time Trial followed by graded scratch racing. For more information go to www.riverlndcyclingclub.com.

 1  Dennis  Robinson

2   Glen O’Brien

3   Angelo Ylia

4   Sue Lahainer

5  Steve Jaensch   Fastest Time

6   Ken Ridley

7   Gordon Pipe

8   Lee Stevens

9   Clayton Bond

10 Terry Bond

11 Lee Rasheed

12 Peter Burr

13 Mick Gray