AFTER a hiatus through the summer school holidays, the Mount Gambier Cycling Club members returned to the familiar 25km course on Caves road, with enough junior riders signing on for a 10km race as well.
Five young riders, mainly introduced to cycling through the Limestone Coast Regional Track Cycling Academy, greeted the commissaire and signed on to race along a 10km out-and-back route.
They set off in one-minute intervals, with Molly Opperman leading proceedings.
She was followed by Xavier Farmilo, Glenn Tye, Sean Tye and Jesse Tull.
With the focus on getting each rider familiar with road racing, the racers were allowed to swap turns with their chaperone until they were either caught by, or caught another rider.
At the finish line, Farmilo had caught and passed Opperman, with Sean Tye and Tull following, then Glenn Tye.
Following the junior race, 17 seniors were assigned into their handicap groupings and began their race.
First away were Jason Buckland and Dianne Major, followed five minutes later by Jen Buckland, Ainsley Curtis and Michael Dethmore.
After a further four minutes had elapsed, David Tye, Spek Peake and Bruce McLaughlin began their chase, with Mike Bakker and Dean Zeven starting another minute later.
Young guns Elmer Buckland, Paddy Langsmith and Riley Hill began another three minutes later, with the final grouping of Jami Buckley, Matthew Opperman, Dave Bryant and Gerard Coote waiting a further 3 minutes for their chance to chase down everyone ahead of them.
Riders worked hard into the wind for the first 12.5km before enjoying a faster run towards the finish line.
A flat tyre seven kilometres into the race ended Major’s race early, with Jason Buckland carrying on alone at the front until the turnaround.
McLaughlin was dropped from his group during the outward leg, but was able to latch onto the following group and catch up with his riding partners later in the race.
The same could not be said for Coote, who was unfortunately dropped from the scratch bunch and faced the long lonely race to the end.
Speeds picked up as the riders turned around and headed back toward the finish line.
With six kilometres to go, Jason Buckland was caught and passed by Curtis and Jen Buckland.
Opperman, Bryant and Buckley were racing hard to catch the riders ahead of them and caught the closest bunch with seven kilometres to go.
Langsmith, Hill and Elmer Buckland kept pace with them for most of the remaining kilometres.
As they crested the final hill and could see the finish line, they had caught all ahead of them.
In the sprint to the line, it was Jami Buckley who took out first and fastest, followed by Opperman and Bryant.
The next race in the Summer Series will be a 25km race along Attamurra Road on Sunday, February 5.
