Hamilton Open

B grade

Sunday 1st April 2001

Jason Kelly

The Hamilton Open is raced in five separate grades, A, B, C, Under 17 and Under 15, over a circuit course on the outskirts of Hamilton. The grades used in open events have little comparison to those used in the Club races. I raced in the B grade over 6.5 laps of a 15km circuit for a total distance of just under 97km. Mark Coombe was the only other Rambler in the B grade while Andrew Bott and Phillip Burns raced in the A grade.

The weather was overcast with a medium to gusty strength wind. As the race was on a circuit, this gave cross, head and tail winds. There were around 24 starters in the B grade, including Sarah Ulmer.

On the 2nd to 5th laps inclusive, there were sprints at the end of every lap for prize money. Soon after the sprint line, the road climbed a couple of reasonable gradient and length hills. Overall, the total amount of hill climbing in the course was deceptive as the total vertical climb for the race was about 989m which is a good two Te Mata Peaks. After the first lap, I decided to ignore the sprints and concentrate on the overall race.

Up the hills at the start of one of the early laps, Sarah Ulmer and two or three other riders made a small break. The bunch reacted fairly quickly and they were dragged in within a few kilometres. After that, the pace fairly much settled with a few solo riders going off the front every now and then but never threatening the bunch.

About half way round the third lap, on a gentle climb with the wind at my back, I rode smoothly to the top of the climb to find myself well clear of the front of the bunch. With still well over 50km to go, I certainly didn’t fancy my chances and just continued to ride at a solid pace until the bunch caught me several kilometres later.

By the sixth lap, the bunch was still almost all together. By this time, the hills were fairly well known and I attacked up the second hill just past the sprint line. Reaching the top, I turned around to find that myself and Sarah Ulmer were clear of the main bunch. Pushing on, we maintained the gap until the next hill. Trying to keep the pace up, I asked Sarah to come through to the front but she appeared to be struggling and didn’t manage it. We continued on and held the remains of the bunch off for a while but were eventually caught.

On the last lap, I attacked again on the same hill and managed a small break. This was not enough and I was soon caught and ended up at the back of the bunch. In the last few kilometres, some hard sprints on downhill sections left me just off the back of the bunch. I finished a few seconds behind the main bunch in a time of 2hrs 36m 45s at an average speed 37.1km/h in about 12th place. Mark Coombe finished 3rd.