IT seemed appropriate that Sunday’s Remember Them Handicap race came down to a battle between two great friends.
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In a race commemorating the camaraderie and fighting spirit of our fallen soldiers it was 19 minute markers Peter McKinnon and Jim Allan who displayed great teamwork to battle it out for the win.
The pair, making their comeback to the sport, had shared the load evenly throughout the 36 kilometre three roads course and in the run down St John Road towards the finish line it was McKinnon who got clear.
McKinnon stopped the clock at one hour, 14 minutes and two seconds. Allan was 11 seconds behind.
Last year’s champion David Hyland (1:14:37), riding off 24 minutes, was third.
McKinnon was honoured to come away with one of the club’s most prized trophies.
“It was really good. It’s a great race and it’s a privilege to win a trophy like this on Remembrance Day,” he said.
“It was really good to ride with Jim and Gary. We got back into the groove and it worked like clockwork, really, for about two thirds of the race. We made up a lot of time there.”
Fourth and fifth went to Darren Fenton and Nev Krahe, both riding off 14 minutes.
First female home was Rosemary Hastings in sixth overall, just in front of the fast finishing Toireasa Gallagher.
Jodie Martin (riding from 5:30 handicap) was the fastest female, recording 57:15.
The backmarkers chased hard and finish just behind the major placegetters.
Scratch rider Brad Rayner recorded a time of 53:36 to take fastest time honours from co-marker Josh Corcoran with Mark Windsor and Dennis Martin next fastest.
It’s a privilege to win a trophy like this on Remembrance Day.
- Peter McKinnon
Recent BCC Road Series A grade winner Rayner said he and Corcoran had a great day on the Perthville roads.
“Handicaps are all about working together as efficiently as you can so it was really good to have Josh riding well today. That made things a lot easier,” he said.
“I was surprised how close we managed to get to the front. We worked really well together and I don’t think we could have gone any quicker than we did in the end so we can’t be too disappointed with that.”
The Bathurst Cycling Club choose one rider to honour for the 2018-19 season, starting with Sunday’s race, and this year’s choice was private John Ford who fought in World War I.
Ford was the winner of a number of events before leaving for the Western Front with the 2nd Battalion.
He was one of the lucky, rare cases from the war as he was able to return home to race again with the club.
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