A Wet One For The Opening Road Races

11 Dec 2020 | 07:52 PMBy: Jo Mackey

The rain came down and so did a number of riders as the first of the road races were held at Guanaba for the 2020 AusCycling Masters Road National Championships on the Gold Coast.

The clouds which blanketed the valley for the opening race would ensure the course would stay dry no longer and it was the Masters Women's categories of 6 and 7 who would cop the brunt early on, making the course even tricker.

With two gold medals from the Time Trial and Criterium, Sunshine Coast Cycling Club's Deborah Latouf was hoping to leave with a trifecta of gold, but it wasn't too be as she went down by half a wheel to New South Wales' Kate Olgers in the Masters Womens 6.

Of the nine races on the Friday, it was the Masters Men 6 with the biggest field of 34 riders, and they would have to contend with slick road conditions and the course feature that would catch some out at the half way mark during the seven laps of their 61.4km epic.

A tight left hand turn at the bottom of a fast descent would catch a number out as disc brakes were running at an optimum.

Despite two crashes in that exact spot and sliding off the road, Jason Ford would end up fight back to take a well deserved gold medal, his second of the week.

"The last three metres it dips again and that takes the pressure of your rear wheel and that's why so many were having trouble snaking through it."

"Normally I don't mind riding in the rain but you don't want to fall off and the adrenalin when you go down negates the time you spend off your bike."

The final day of the championships will see the Masters Men 1,2,3, 4, 5 and Women 1,2,3 again battlng away in wet conditions from 7am.