A CLASH with the Cycling Australia National Road Series has dealt a terrible blow to the Cootamundra Cycle Club ahead of the much anticipated Coota Classic (page 13).
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This year should be a cause for celebration as the annual race celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Instead the race, which has previously attracted upwards of 300 competitors, is looking at falling shy of 100 entrants.
This leaves one of the country’s oldest cycling clubs between a rock and a hard place. Do they lower prize money and risk damaging the future appeal of the event? Or do they run at a substantial loss and hope to avoid such issues in the future?
It’s not just the club who lose out.
With the Classic on Saturday and the Recovery on Sunday, Cootamundra can generally expect hundreds of visitors for the weekend.
It’s a timely boost considering how the cold weather hampers tourism, but now clubs, hotels, motels and restaurants also suffer for the oversight.
Country people are used to dealing with unexpected misfortune, but this is a completely avoidable error on Cycling Australia’s behalf.
“This race is 60 years old,” Jimmy Callan said on Facebook.
“It's been ridden by Olympians, Tour de France stage winners, countless Australian and state champions, and should start getting the priority it deserves.”
