Lucy Bechtel was the first female across the finish line in the 110 kilometre long course event, in the Blayney to Bathurst on Sunday.
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Bechtel, of the Specialized Women's Racing team, finished with a time of two hours, 59 minutes and 58 seconds, almost four minutes ahead of Port Macquarie Cycling Club’s Deborah Hennessey (3:03:53).
She said she was with a really fast group, rolling through the final kilometres of the race.
“They were taking it pretty seriously and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to hang on,” she said.
“But with the three kilometre to go I could see a group coming from behind and you never know who’s in that. So I kept going as hard as I could.
“I got dropped but I pushed as hard as I could. I’ve been on this crit track and it’s an awesome crit track, so I kind of had fun taking the turns by myself.”
The Rockley Mount section of the race is well known in the Blayney to Bathurst for being the crucial part and Bechtel said she tried as hard as she could to keep up.
“I tried to tick some of my goals off but I wanted to be in the front group as much as I could,” she said.
“It’s a race against the girls, but it’s really a race against the time and race against the guys too.”
Bechtel, who hails from Canberra, said there is so much that makes the Blayney to Bathurst a unique race.
“I don’t race in groups this big. There’s some beautiful rolling terrain and it’s sort of a funny race until the climb,” she said.
“It’s just you’ve got to go as hard as you can until the finish.”
Her next race is in the Battle on the Boarder, at Mount Warning, at the end of the month, “flooding permitting”.
Emily Watts was the best female from the Bathurst Cycling Club, finishing in a time of 3:41:01.
Julian Auld (4:09:57) and Rosemary Hastings (4:39:17) were the only other females from the Bathurst Cycling Club that competed in and finished the long course event.
Stewart Campbell finished first in the short course event, in a time of 1:49:27.
The 45-year-old claimed his third win in the 70 kilometre distance race.
He was 25 seconds ahead of Kurt Earther, of the Dubbo Cycling Club, in second.
Edmund Wright claimed third spot, in 1:49:58.
The Bathurst Cycling Club’s best performance in the short course was Billy Hutton, who finished in a time of 1:49:59.
Kirsten Howard was the best female from the club in a time of 1:50:08 and had the best time across all females in the short course event.