Cyclists keep military police speed up in championships

Air Force Competitions

Road race

CPL Michael Rand, 8th FLTLT Chris Webb, 9th SQNLDR Richard Haines, 10th LAC Gavin Winchester, 17th FLTLT Adam Rosen, 17th

Criterium

CPL Shane Hohensee SQNLDR Richard Haines FLTLT Christopher Webb FLTLT Adam Rosen LAC Gavin Winchester FLGOFF Matthew Pinkstone CPL Michael Rand

AIR Force pedal power was unable to stop a high speed Army charge during the recent interService cycling championships.

Twenty-seven competitors fronted the event, held at Enoggera in late April, to compete in a 60km road race and a criterium. The road race comprised 13 laps of a 4km course.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Greg Young said the sight of the competitors riding the main straight at speeds in excess of 50km/h was awesome, but more was to come.

“We had competitors setting speeds in excess of 70km/h on the downhill stretch,” he said.

“We had to get a special exemption from the Area Commander to exceed the 40km/h speed limit on base. Members from [4 Military Police Company], who provided the escort vehicle, could not believe that at some stages they were travelling at 80km/h just to keep in front of the lead bunch.”

As the laps unwound, the pack split into two groups and the leaders were lapping slower competitors by the ninth lap.

“A group of riders were clearly in front and doing it hard; they had just dropped the chase pack and had their sights set on a sprint finish,” WO2 Young said.

Despite their performance, the others could not be faulted.

“[The leaders] were being chased by the rest of the field who were not giving in.”

Victory ultimately went to Lance Corporal Pryor. He broke away to claim victory by 14 seconds in a time of 1:29:00, an average speed of 38.9km/h.

WO2 Young said that despite the determination and professionalism of the riders, they still maintained a sense of fun.

“There were several characters in the race. We had one competitor riding his old bike in a pair of board shorts but still managed to achieve a respectful time on the day.”

With the road race completed, a mixture or 17 road racers and new starters took their starting positions. The criterium comprised a race time of 40 minutes plus three laps. It was held over an 800m course.

If riders were lapped, they were required to pull out of the race. This was a safety requirement, but also identified riders who were still in the race.

As the gun fired, the top riders took off on the first lap and went immediately up to 50km/h by the next corner.

This set the race standard.

By the eight-minute mark, riders were being passed and from then on were being pulled out at regular intervals.
By the 30-minute mark, only three riders were left in the field and they remained for the rest of the event.

WO2 Young said that despite the incredible efforts, when the bell rang to signify the three remaining laps, the leading riders turned up the speed even further.

“Coming down the last straight, LCPL Pryor turned on the speed and blew the other two riders out of the water with an incredible turn of speed.

“As he came round the last corner, he held a significant lead and came across the line with time to spare to claim his second title for the day.”

.