ON Sunday the Blue Lake transformed into a sea of bicycles, as the Mount Gambier Cycling Club hosted the SA Kermesse Championships.
Riders tackled varying laps of the 3.2km loop around the picturesque lake, depending on class.
The junior riders were first to hit the course, with Elliott Winter again riding strongly to earn his gold medal in U11 Boys and Jack Pentland winning the Gold medal in U13 Boys, ahead of Joel Gooley and Austen Decker.
In Under 15s, both the Male and Female riders started together, though for different medals.
Freya Miller underlined her class by riding with the leading male riders until the last lap, duly receiving the Gold medal for her performance ahead of Molly Opperman.
Ryan Underwood won the sprint to the line in U15 Male, just ahead of Thomas Brinkley and Jett Petz.
In Under 17s, the female riders rode together, with Hayley Gill timing her lunge to the line to take the gold medal ahead of Sophia Bakker.
The Male race was also close, with the sprint down the hill to the finish line the deciding factor for the medals.
William Brown was in the right spot on the line to receive the Gold medal, followed by Liam Underwood and Alasdair Norris.
A number of support categories were next to race around the lake, allowing some of the riders who had been part of the handicap the day before another opportunity to race.
In D Grade, David Mann beat his brother and coach of the Limestone Coast Track Cycling Academy, Rob Mann and Oliver Sierp.
In C Grade, Alex Magarey and Stephen Kilpatrick rode off early from their other riders, with Magarey finishing ahead of Kilpatrick and Marcus Hofer winning the sprint for third place.
In B Grade Ryan Johnson won ahead of Daniel van der Laan and Matthew Tuck.
Just as the women were about to begin their race, the heavens opened making the road slippery for the riders.
Unfortunately Summer Nordmeyer succumbed to the slippery surface and had to abandon the race.
Of the other riders, Sophie Edwards rode strongly up the back of the lake on the last lap and held off the chasing riders to take the championship victory, ahead of Hannah Bayard and Ash Ankudinoff.
Of note was the sight of Ava Wilson running to the line beside her bike after unfortunately getting a flat tyre on her last lap.
With the completion of the women’s race, the final race of the day was to be the Men’s Championship.
Tynan Shannon, Conor Doyle and Lucas Hoffman broke away from the other 18 starters in the first lap, managing to stay away for the ensuing intermediate sprints.
They enjoyed an advantage of up to 40 seconds and worked hard to keep in front while the group behind tried hard to close the gap.
After the allotted 75 minutes had elapsed the riders had two laps to try and close the gap, but were unable to do so, with Shannon taking the championship win in a sprint ahead of Doyle and Hoffman.
