Northern Combine St Kilda Trophy Race (Where's the pothole patrol?)

A field of 54 gathered at the Kyneton Showgrounds for the final event of the Northern Combine 2023 road race series to contest the St Kilda Trophy Race on the Pastoria circuit.  Under clear skies and a prevailing north westerly wind, Chief Commissaire David Cutajar was clear in his pre-race briefing, watch out for the potholes. Upon closer inspection, that's not a pothole, it looked more like a shallow grave.  Don't say you weren't warned.  So today, let's pay homage to country singer Joey Holiday, who summed up the situation best when he sang Where's the Pothole Patrol?  

The feature climb of the 19km rolling Pastoria circuit is Mt St Mary, 2.36km at an average of 4.6% is more like a set of stairs than a climb, with its repetitious inclines and false flats, which made it difficult for the pure climbers to exploit.  More of a course for the puncheurs, rather than the climbers.  

A Grade saw only 2 riders, Dean Madden and last week’s Alf Walker Hcp winner James Paige in the field.  They were added into the B grade field and committed to making their own race up front.  James reported “We rode with B grade for most of the first lap, and then Dean and I decided to get a gap on B grade on the first big climb.  Dean’s idea of nothing too crazy, was nothing like my idea of nothing too crazy and he gapped me over the crest.  We came back together and rode together with the intention of fighting it out on the last climb.  About 5km into the last lap Dean had a squishy rear tyre and neither of us had a spare tube,so I tapped out the last 15km on my own.  The goal of the day was to spend some energy and prepare for the National Masters in Shepparton next weekend and I did that”.

James Paige

B Grade men saw 14 riders contest 3 laps on the Pastoria course.  The winner Stewart Huddle, 31 and a former VFL boundary umpire from Hawthorn CC in his first season of road racing, lead home a fast finishing, Aston Key (Brunswick CC) and Tim Webber (Hawthorn CC) +20sec.  Stewart reported “the group stayed together for much of the race, and we never got more than 20 seconds ahead.  Coming into the last hill, I knew I didn’t have much of a sprint. Aston was on the front and sent it.  I managed to get back on his wheel and pass him with about 500m to go and from there I just managed to hold on”.

from left Aston Key, Stewart Huddle, Tim Webber

 

A grade women Again another small field of 3 riders, who were combined with the C grade men and gave as good as they got.  Sofia McBride (Macedon Ranges CC), 18-year-old VCE student who has only been riding for a year and trains on the very roads we racing on, used her local knowledge to make a solo break late in the third lap to score her first victory in an open road race.  Second place was Karla Bell (Brunswick CC) and third place Bianca Pickett (Hawthorn CC).  Sofia said “she used her endurance to go early and then grind it out for the win.”

From left Karla Bell, Sofia McBride, Bianca Pickett

C Grade men saw a quality field of 14 riders head out, with the bunch staying together until well into the last lap.  Declan Peacock, 29, from the Hawthorn CC, showed the rest of the bunch how it’s done after going solo on the second climb. Second place David Koroknai (Dandenong – Noble Park CC) in a strong finish to overtake Justin Lin (new rider) who had launched a solo attack about 7km from home and managed to hang on for a well-earned place.

Asked what was going through his mind when he broke away.  Declan said, “the pace was a bit stop start, so I thought I’d make a break and see if I could get a couple of guys to go with me, because it would be easier with a smaller group.  I got to the corner (after the climb) and had a pretty solid gap (20 sec).  I knew I could use the tail wind section to hold the gap.  If they were going to catch me, it would be on the head wind section”.  When asked if he was riding to heart rate or power, he said “he was a bit dirty that his power meter wasn’t working, so I just rode to a comfortable level and paced my effort”. 

Rewinding back to the second lap breakaway, one of the lead riders called out should we chase him.  Veteran Keith Trovatello , said “no”.  Upon reflection, that probably had more to do with Keith being on his limit on his single speed.  Safe to say that will probably be the first and last time any members of that bunch take advice from Keith. 

From left David Koroknai, Declan Peacock, Justin Lin

 

B Grade women 6 including u15 Madeleine Douglas

The B women rode with the D grade men and it was St Kilda CC’s mother of three, Daniela Mollica who took the honours, ahead of Alison Skene (Eastern CC) and Helen Napier (St Kilda CC).  Daniela reflected on the race, “I was still tired from last Sunday where I raced the Amy Gillet Gran Fondo (first place in the 50-54 women if you don’t mind).  It was quite challenging in the wind.  At some stage in the second lap, I turned around and the other women had been dropped.  My secret ability (aka super power) is to hold a wheel.” Daniela, your secret is no more.

From left Allison Skene, Daniela Mollica, Helen Napier

 

D Grade men 15 riders including U15 Riley Boyd.

Winning his first ever road race, film maker, former VFL umpire and track rider David Park from Brunswick CC took the honours from Tom McDonough Coburg CC in 2^nd and  Brendan Cleary Hawthorn CC 3^rd.  David reported, “We took it pretty easy early on.  Andrew Gannon and Tommy McDonough broke away for a while, we kept them at a safe distance and let them dangle for about 10km.  The pace went off a bit coming into the last climb where everyone was saving their legs.  I accelerated on the last hill and expected others to come past me and managed to hold on for the win”.

From left Tom McDonough, David Park, Brendan Cleary

Congratulations to our Juniors Madeleine and Riley who rode a cut down version of the senior road race.

The Pastoria course is a challenging one and hopefully when we return to ride it next year the Pothole patrol will have visited and made the course safer.  Despite the potholes, everyone got around safely. It’s great to see so many riders who are new to competitive cycling finishing at the pointy end of their grades.  Good competition makes us all stronger.

Having ridden 5 of the 7 Northern Combine events this year, I can attest that it’s great to be regularly riding against familiar faces every few weeks, watching our young riders develop, getting to know other riders and developing friendly rivalries.  When you reflect on the names of riders from the current and former pro-peloton such as Mitch Docker, Luke Plapp, Sarah Gigante and Ruby Roseman-Gannon, they all started out their road riding careers with the Northern Combine working their way through the grades. 

Results