Simone Grounds has created history by becoming the first female cyclist to win the Cootamundra Annual Classic Handicap on Saturday.
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The Dubbo Cycling Club member held off Sydney's Anna Booth by a second in a tense sprint finish to the 116km event.
Grounds and Booth both began in bunch seven off a 29 minute handicap and were among five women to finish in the top six, with Grounds' club mate Graeme Peadon just behind in third.
Grounds, 43, holds all Australian track and road titles in the masters three category, but was unsure if she would last the distance given she rarely races more than 100km.
"It was a pretty big surprise to be honest. I've been doing a lot of hard training recently but handicaps are always really hard, you have to catch up to the riders in front and keep those behind at bay.
"I wasn't sure where my legs would be at, but we had a really good bunch that worked well with each other.
"Masters racing is a lot shorter and I was worried I'd really struggle in those final 16km."
The NSW Open Club Road Race Championships were also held at Cootamundra on Sunday, with St George edging Illawarra for the title.
One hundred and twelve cyclists faced the starters gun at 12:30, spread across 10 bunches with the first ones to leave with a 40 minute handicap on the Elite Scratch bunch.
Perfect conditions greeted the many visitors to town from all areas of NSW and beyond.
Cootamundra Cycle Club president Mark Loiterton said the strong contingent of teams from the city that support country racing, were a welcome addition again this year and are a valuable inclusion to a colourful list of names.
"Eleven of this year's entrants were female, possibly the largest entry of ladies we have ever had," Mark said.
"The front bunches made the best of the ideal conditions and quickly managed to organise a strong bunch of workers and generated a fast pace.
"The chasing bunches combined towards the latter stages of the race and there were two groups working hard, to gather in the front markers.
"With 10 kms remaining, it appeared that the leaders would sneak away with the win but the chasers were determined to run them down as they had the luxury of updated time gaps from bystanders in various positions on the course.
"As the leaders turned onto the last 4 km finishing straight, they held a slim 1 minute, 45 second lead. That was enough to get them to the base of the brutal 300 metre climb to the finish line.
"It was the determined Grounds that held off her fellow group of riders to greet the checkered flag and become the first female to ever win a State Open Road Race in Cootamundra."
The first Cootamundra rider to finish was Andrew Ritchie who collected the Mike "Scatty" Taylor award for the first local home.
Saturday's top 5 were:- Simone Grounds (Dubbo), Anna Booth (Sydney Uni Velo), Graeme Peadon (Dubbo), Emma Viotto (Canberra), Chloe Heffernan (Illaw).
Fastest Time, Jay Vine Canberra.
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