A solid start has paved the way for Rosemary Hastings to win the Bathurst Cycling Club's Easter handicap race on Sunday.
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Competing in the 40 kilometre event, Hastings was the early leader, set a solid pace from the start and proved hard to catch throughout the race to finish ahead of David Hyland and Jeremy Ryan in second and third respectively.
Hastings said the calm conditions made a massive difference for her in the race.
"There was a good rollup of people and I had a good start. It was a lovely day, perfect conditions. I just went for it and it was a good race," she said.
"I'm more of an endurance rider, so in longer races if I set a pace and I'm feeling good and can keep up that pace, it works.
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"The conditions really helped. We've had so many races with windy conditions, so it was nice to have a nice, calm, cool day. I could build on that a bit."
With Hastings the early leader with a solid pace from the start, she was chased by the 26 minute markers Hyland and Cathy Adams, who both worked well in the early stages.
Middle markers Darren Fenton and Aleks Krajer (off 11 minutes) had the experience of Rob Stephen and Glen Carter in their bunch and were making ground on the leaders, however, the 8:30 minute group of Tim Roebuck, Geoff Short, Brad Rayner and top female cyclist Ella Falzarano had started fast and had them in their sights.
The backmarkers were handicapped into four groups lead by Ray Thorn, David Reece, Tony Shaw and promising young Orange rider Josiah Cooke off 4:30 minutes with the three minute group of Nic Barrett, Alexander Onus and Mark Windsor starting fast to attempt to catch them as soon as possible.
Top class age grouper Jeremy Ryan had the three minute group in his sights right from the start, having come off the two minute mark, while course record holder Will Hodges looked to have a very tough assignment from the scratch mark.
Hastings had a big lead at the top of Quarry Hill and while Hyland had broken clear of Adams, they were both having a tough time catching the leader.
At the back of the field, Hodges was held up and lost any chance of a good finish, however Ryan had caught Windsor and Barrett.
It would be hard riding for Hastings who held on for a great win.
It was heartbreak for Adams, however, who was caught by the backmarkers of Ryan, Windsor and Falzarano with less than 100 metres to go.
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