RACE AND END OF YEAR PRESENTATION REPORT

by the Maillot Jaune
Saturday 19th November was the culmination of the 2011 BH Mountain Bike Club season. An afternoon race, the Silverton Heritage Trail, was followed by a presentation evening at the Tydvil Hotel Beer Garden attended by riders and their families. The scorching afternoon heat saw the race shortened by a lap in the interest of safety but most of the nearly 30 strong riders put in maximum effort in a last ditch effort to get points for the evenings club championship presentation.

It was not a good day for the 29ers with a casualty even before the race. Tony Hepburn’s bike came off his car rack while coming into the parking area damaging his front tyre. Steve Chinner lent Tony a tyre so he could race but Steve’s generosity was not rewarded when he suffered a puncture forcing him to retire after the first lap and a certain victory in Senior A. Lance Edgecombe was also denied a possible podium finish in the Senior B after a puncture on the opening lap.

Steve’s forced retirement left the Senior A category wide open. Royce Beck who said he was just coming out to spin the pedals, won and admitted in a post-race interview that he couldn’t let Benny Goodman beat him”. Benny also had to work hard for his second place, beating David Stephenson by just one second. Corey Sammut continued his domination of the Senior B category with Nick Algate and George Adams completing the rest of the podium places. Many of the B riders will not be sad to see Corey graduate to Senior A next season. A special mention goes out to Phil Dupal and Brian Devlin who both turned up late, missing the start.

Megan Algate continued unchallenged in the Women’s Category to finish 1st in this, and every other race she has entered this season. It is hoped that the club can attract a few new women riders for 2012 to give Megan some competition.

The social category saw four riders brave the heat and post some very respectable times. Many of this riders have been honing their skills and improving their fitness throughout the season and will do very well if they decide to join the Senior Bs next year.

A good night was had by all at the club presentations and as with everything Nick Algate organises for the club, it was rain interrupted. After a brief pause to move inside the presentations continued. This year championship points were tallied on all races contested with riders required to compete in at least three races. Category winners all had very consistent seasons and thoroughly deserved the glory of being crowned the best mountain bikers in Broken Hill. Tasman Johnston won the Barry Gentle Memorial Shield in Senior Men’s A. Corey Sammut won the Senior Men’s B and Megan Algate won the Women’s. In the Junior Boys it was a family affair with Max and Patrick Eberle taking home the 1st and 2nd respectively. For the 1st time the Clubman of the Year was awarded to a non-rider. Brodee Borchard was nominated by the majority of club members for the enormous amount of work she has done behind the scenes week in week out.

Please DOWNLOAD Club Points for 2011

The Maillot Jaune would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the club events run smoothly and to all our sponsors, whose support of the club is invaluable.