Sat 14 Nov 2009

Manning Valley Cycle Club conducted a Criterium event in conjunction with the Forster Multisport Festival on Saturday. With a minimum of $1,000 prizemoney the event attracted riders from Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Sydney to compete against local Taree and Forster cyclists. Division 1 attracted some excellent cyclists, including Brendan Brooks who is recognised as one of the best cyclists in Australia and races professionally for the Shortis Cycle Team based on the Gold Coast. Division 2 consisted of a large field of 28 riders with Manning Valley riders hoping to dominate the event.

 

Josh Blick from the Manning Valley Club attempted to take control of the Division 1 event from the 1st lap which drew an immediate response from Brooks who didn’t want Blick to gain any sort of lead on the field. With Brooks and Blick working together a 500m gap to the chase peleton quickly resulted. As this gap widened it became obvious that one of these 2 riders would take the win with most of the spectators wondering how long the 15 year old Taree Junior could stay Brooks. With money “up for grabs” for an Intermediate sprint after 20 minutes of the race there was enormous interest as how serious the 2 man sprint to the line would be. The spectators were not disappointed when both Brooks and Blick decided to test each other out and raced side by side for 200m. They hit the line together with Blick judged the winner by the closest of margins. The 2 lead riders now had an unassailable lead on the remaining field with the crowd now preparing for an exciting finish. With crowd support solidly behind Blick there was growing confidence that he would make Brooks work extremely hard for a win. In a somewhat disappointing anti climax Blick suffered a puncture with 10 min remaining and had to be satisfied with 4th place. Final Placings for division 1, 1st B Brooks, 2nd N Wood(HDCC), 3rd D Witherdin( HDCC), 4th J Blick (MVCC), 5th Tai Piper (MVCC). 

 

At the end of the race Brooks was full of praise for the young rider who is now proving himself as one of NSW’s leading junior cyclists. Blick is a member of the Real Aussie Kids Junior Cycling Development Squad coached by Graham Seers. In 2009 he won the U17 Blayney to Bathurst  68km race, gained second place in the 2-day Wagga Junior Tour, 4th place in the NSW U17 Time Trial, 2nd place in the Central Division Team Time Trial and recording the fastest time trial for a first year U17 at the Junior National Titles in Canberra. Blick is currently developing his track racing skills, travelling each week to train on the Newcastle velodrome with the Hunter Academy.

 

The Division 2 race started at a very fast pace with many riders failing to come to terms with the speed out of the turnaround points. With such a large field, riders at the rear of the peloton were struggling to stay in touch with the lead riders and the field split into a number of small bunches. Local rider Troy Croker had a significant lead in the race over the early stages and was proving very hard to catch. However, as the pursuing bunch started to organise the chase it was evident that Croker would be caught before the finish. With most of the field back together for the sprint finish the local crowd were not disappointed when Taree rider Michael Cross won the event from a fast finishing Justin Woollard and Daniel Crossingham to make it a Manning Valley triffecta. Final Placings for Division 2 1st Michael Cross (MVCC), 2nd Jstin Woollard (MVCC), 3rd Daniel Crossingham (MVCC), 4th Paul Nixon (MVCC), 5th Todd Richardson(MWCC) 

 

MANNING VALLEY CYCLE CLUB