THE decision to bypass Saturday’s demanding Cootamundra Annual in
preference of the shorter, yet still taxing recovery race paid dividends for Harlequins cyclist Kylee McDonald.
McDonald wore the number 161 saddlecloth in Sunday’s traditional three laps of the ‘suicide’ course and was one of three females in a four-minute limit bunch that was given little hope on the line despite the fact they had an 18-minute buffer over their nearest chasers and 36-minutes over a scratch bunch that was looking for a
weekend double.
It soon became obvious the limit group, which was down to just the three girls in McDonald, Sarah Atkinson from Sydney and Emma Viotto of Canberra, was going to prove hard to catch.
They were still well clear after the first lap and held a sizeable lead over a
determined 18-minute bunch as they crossed the start finish line a second time with ‘only’ 23km now between them and an upset victory.
While pulling back time on the leaders, the 18-minute bunch had only conceded 75 seconds to the 13.30 minute bunch
meaning they still had a 3.15 minute gap as they headed out for a final time.
At the back end of the race scratch and block had come together and were putting in some relatively quick laps, however it was the pace of the three leaders that
continued to surprise everyone.
It was midway through the final lap that McDonald made her move, pulling away from her fellow riders as they climbed the hills before their last run along the ‘back alley’ of Old Gundagai Road.
It proved decisive as Atkinson and Viotto eventually succumbed to the weight of numbers in the chase group, which then turned its attention to McDonald.
Cootamundra club member David Barrow and Geoff Hale from Wagga realised any hope of reeling in McDonald would only be possible with an increased tempo and they broke away from the bunch over the final 10km.
It was then a race in three - could a
fatiguing McDonald hold on, or would Barrow and Hale have more in the tank and be able to mow her down?
At one stage McDonald’s lead was more than 1km, however slowly, but surely Barrow and Hale were eating into it to the point they could see their rival less than 200 metres in front of them.
McDonald had worked too hard to
surrender and with the finish line in sight as she made the final turn into Florence Street she gave one last effort, enough to see her cross the line with roughly 80 metres to spare.
Barrow positioned himself well to
out-sprint Hale for second, while fellow Coota rider Steve Carroll was fourth as the 18-minute riders filled the remaining top 10 placings.
Brock Roberts, who finished fifth behind Rhys Pollock in Saturday’s Annual, grabbed fastest time honours on Sunday in 1:32.31 meaning he averaged less than 31 minutes per lap.
By contrast, McDonald’s time of 2:06.01 saw her average 42 minute laps, while Barrow and Hale averaged around 36
minutes a lap.
Results
1 Kylee McDonald Harlequins 36min
2 David Barrow Cootamundra 18min
3 Geoff Hale Wagga 18min
4 Steve Carroll Cootamundra 18min
5 Declan Gregory Albury 18min
6 Anthony O’Connor Vikings 18min
7 Kingsley Massey Griffith 18min
8 David Moiler Bankstown 18min
9 Daniel Tess Sydney 18min
10 Michael Clement DHill 18min
Fastest Time
Brock Roberts Nth Sydney Scr
1.32.31
Second Fastest
Aiden Lyons Sutherland Scr
First Female
Kylee McDonald 36min
First Local
Steve Carroll* 18min
First Sprint
Sarah Atkinson Sydney 36min
Second Sprint
Sarah Atkinson 36min
* to be eligible a rider must have competed in five club races during the year.
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