As we move toward the last two rounds of the summer criterium series I thought it a good time to quickly reflect on the racing so far. We have tried to mix things up this summer season, reducing the number of races, having a summer road handicap, adding a new circuit in Ocean Grove and a series point’s championship. This has proved a hotly contested competition with a log jam of riders trying to break into the top 10 with one round to go.

We have seen the number of juniors racing each week continue to increase which is a great result as they are the future. With the number of U17 men in the club we are almost at the point where they can have a race of their own, a great result for the club and them!

The club has also introduced the MyLaps timing system. This has given us access to instant and accurate results for every competitor. All club race results are now on a data base that can be accesses from the club web site. The club will be putting out some more information in the coming weeks about how we manage the system and transponder use in the future.

At the completion of the summer races we will be putting a member survey out to try and capture people’s thoughts on the summer racing, areas for improvement, possible changes etc. We welcome comments and feedback from riders as the road committee will use this information to help shape our next summer season.

Whilst summer racing has been going on the road committee has been working away at producing the winter calendar amongst other policies. Although there are a couple of courses that have to get final approval for, it will be pretty close to the final product. We will keep all riders informed when every race has been 100% confirmed, including race times, distances etc. Watch this space.

Once again there have been a few changes to the calendar from previous years. We have added couple of new courses (St Leonards, Parkers Road Sutherlands Creek and Staugthan Vale) and included some Sunday morning races for those who have work or family commitments on a Saturday. We have avoided clashes with Cats games where possible also. The club tour continues this year with a Kermesse (Eastern Gardens), Prologue (2 laps of Crit track) on Saturday and a Sunday road race. This will include a sealed handicap to give every rider an opportunity to go home a winner. The Colac, Ballarat and Geelong challenges races are on again and also the Geelong – Footscray Cup race. We hope you like what you see in the calendar and it gives every rider a reason to get out there and have a go.

In closing I would like welcome new club handicapper Paul Collins to the fold. It is a tuff and largely thankless task. If his first handicapping effort in the New Years handicap is anything to go by he will do an outstanding job. Thanks also for the work done by the road committee, Grant Blake, Colin Smith, Jono Meadows, Tony Ross, Craig McCartney and Rudy Schmidt. Rudy’s commitment to this job over the last few years has been extraordinary, it’s a massive task that he has single handedly done. If any members have questions or concerns please touch base with one of the road committee members.

Daniel Wilson

Round 5 of the Summer Criterium Series will be held at Eastern Gardens this Sunday. Make sure you can get to this race either as a competitor of spectator as it's another spectular circuit with a full road closure along the waterfront.

Racing will commence 9am SUNDAY DECEMBER 18 - Eastern Gardens.



Location: Eastern Gardens - Heame Pd – Eastern Gardems.
Course: Map can be found here.
Race start times: 9.00am B & D grade (50mins + 3 laps, 30min), 10.00am A & C grade (60min + 3 laps, 40min + 3 laps)
Registration: from 8.00am.

Note: All members are asked to bring race licence to help with race entry, we are trialling a new registration system to make the registration process as pain free for everyone.

Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for any futher details.

​