Girraween Open Criterium

The Sunshine Coast Cycling Club hosted the inaugural Girraween Open Criterium over the newly constructed cycling facility near Noosa. The circuit was a great race track, with some elevation changes and good facilities, so the racing was going to be hard.

Women's Race
The girls were first to race, and the rain stopped just in time to allow a dry race. The girl to beat was always going to be Shara Gillow (Orica - Greenedge), who was clearly in good form. From the gun, Shara hit the bunch with a huge attack and was straight away off the front solo. As such, the girls had to chase. All the team worked well to maintain the gap to something manageable, but due to the tough climb and wind, the going was hard.

The hard conditions allowed Shara to build her lead. Meanwhile, Lou Betts was able to break away in pursuit with another girl, but Gillow was too strong and was never to be caught. Lou held on to get third place.

A Grade Race
The men's race started off with a bang, as new recruit Graeme Rose attacked from the gun. This aggressive start cause major stress in the bunch, with riders struggling. As Graeme was caught Jimmy Miller then had a go off the front and spent some time solo. As the other teams chased him back, Matt then also counter attacked, but wasn't let go for long.

The race settled into a rhythm for a while, until the attacks began again, which saw a group of three sneak away. Matt and Graeme chased, but weren't able to get across and had to settle for a place in the bunch.

Success at Brisbane Blast

The first big open road race for the three squads was the Brisbane Blast, which was to be used as an unveiling of the teams on the road. It was especially exciting to see the debut of the women's team and the first full force race for the B grade team. It also saw the debut for some new riders in the A Grade team.

Women's Race
The women started the day off in style. With a great line up of female talent, the race was anticipated to be an aggressive race. The four girls went out to be aggressive from the start and started the race with some strong riding by Lou Betts and Corissa Smith. Sally Cowman then put some pressure on the field, which softened things up for Jasmin Hurikino to follow a counter attack.

This counter attack saw a group of four girls ride off the front, where Jazzy then worked well to establish the gap. The finale saw some more attacks, but in the end it was a three girl sprint, where Jazzy was able to take third place. Great work Jazzy.

B Grade Race
The B Grade team were almost at full strength and really did dominate the race. Aggressive riding early on by JJ and Gleggy allowed Adam Baron to get a gap and force the other teams to chase.

Coming into the finale, Mark Pierce and JJ were able to support Ben Chambers in holding position and controlling the race. This allowed Ben to time his effort in the final 500m to go solo to the line for a fine early season win. Good work Ben.

A Grade
The final race of the day was the A grade team. The class field of top quality riders saw the race average incredible speeds from the gun. The field was always strung out with limited opportunities to attack being presented.

As such, the race was one of attrition, with many riders dropping off. In addition, a large crash mid way through limited the chances of some of the team, however Mick Hill and Dan McCulloch were able to get through the crash to contest the final. Despite Dan crashing, he was able to dust himself off and be in contention for the sprint, where he was able to take a top ten finish. Not bad considering the 49kph average speed and crashes.