CYCLING
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By ALEXANDER GRANT
IT was a memorable day for Bathurst Cycling Club members on Saturday as Mark Windsor led home a trifecta for the city in the Western Division Road Race Championships.
Windsor was part of a breakaway that included A grade club-mates Ben Taylor and Jono Cutler. It was one the field couldn’t reel in, leaving Bathurst riders to not just clean sweep the podium, but also the top eight spots.
Windsor managed to leave his fellow break riders behind on the Rockley Mount course to solo to the finish. Taylor placed second with Cutler third.
“It was a really good team effort. With us three away our club-mates made sure that Dubbo in particular, and to a lesser extent Orange and Mudgee, found it hard to bring us back. They really kept the pressure on them. They were all busy trying to conserve their energy for the second hill,” Windsor said.
“They had to try and marshal their teams, but they couldn’t. We just put our heads down out in front and then I attacked before the last climb.
“We had a really good turnout. There was an open level race in Mudgee but it got cancelled, so we brought this one forward which turned out to be a really good idea.”
Taylor and Cutler were the first to successfully break off the front of the field and started to put plenty of distance back to the peloton as no chase could be organised.
Tim Guy (Orange), Adam Mitchell (Dubbo), Ryan O’Donnell (Bathurst) and Mitchell Reilly (Mudgee) all launched separate attacks to join the leading pair with no success.
But Windsor made his move count on the run into Rockley Mount as he managed to do what those before him failed to, joining Taylor and Cutler.
The peloton couldn’t muster up any significant attacks to the leading trio, allowing Bathurst to dominate their fellow Central West clubs.
O’Donnell, Steve Scott, Steve Dunstall, Steve Bennett and Jarrod Bell filled fourth to eighth placings.
After Harry Carter’s win in the event last year, Windsor’s victory gives Bathurst two straight crowns in the top grade.
Bathurst’s Kirsten Howard claimed the A grade women’s event by virtue of being the only entrant at that level.
Still, she managed to finish ahead of many of her male counterparts in the race.
“For her to be handicapped into this grade is excellent,” Windsor said.
“Getting to ride in there and seeing how it goes is good for her career. It’s important for her for when she goes on to those bigger races to know where her head needs to be at on a tactical level.”
Former Bathurst Road Champion and NSW state medallist Drew Carter outsprinted Western Region Academy of Sport and NSW junior team member Hamish Burke (Mudgee) to win gold in the B grade championship.
In C grade Bathurst Cycling Club newcomer Daniel Went showed plenty of talent in winning over a quality field.
Recent NSW Masters gold medallist Rob Stephen was second with Bathurst’s Tony Hogan winning the bronze.
Bathurst’s Jill Harris was the top placed female rider.
In D grade the attacks began right from the starter’s gun.
Promising young Orange triathlete Connor Whitley claimed the win from 2012 runner-up Terry Rossi and defending champion Aidan Sugden.
Bathurst’s Mark Stewart was fourth and clubmate Kerryn Windsor was fifth outright and the first female rider home in the grade.