CYCLING
GLEN Innes will be sounding the starter’s gun on the women’s and newly introduced junior men’s U19 sections of next month’s McDonald’s 48th Grafton to Inverell Cycle Classic on September 20.
The women’s race, known as the Celtic Country Classic de Femme, will now start in Glen Innes and cover a shorter distance of 95km to Inverell.
The Valmet Komatsu Forest Junior Men’s U/19 race – a new category in this year’s classic – will be staged over the same course, meandering to the finish line at Inverell via Elsmore.
Grafton to Inverell Cycle Classic media liaison man Peter Sunderland said the women’s race would start in Grey St at 10.15am, with the juniors kicking off 30 minutes later.
“After just 10km in the saddle, riders will tackle the Waterloo Range climb lasting around 2km at a gradient of 8 per cent,” Sunderland said.
“It will also be the first opportunity for riders to collect points in the Steiger Electronics Queen of the Mountain (QOM) and King of the Mountain
competitions.
“From there a fast section to the Swanbrook Creek will see the field average around 40 km-h over the next 30km.
“Reaching the 48km mark, the second QOM and KOM points will be atop the Wire Gully climb.
“This climb is a perfect place for the climbers of the race to break up the field over the nearly 6 per cent ascent.
“Another 15km into the race, and with Inverell in sight, the race will take a left-hand turn onto a fast descent into the Elsmore valley where they will follow the McIntyre River eastwards to the little village of Elsmore.
“Here they will attack the last major hurdle of the race over the Dodds hill climb – a short but very steep climb at 9 per cent gradient over a heavy road surface,” he said.
The race then returns to the Gwydir Highway with 20km to the finish.
This is also the Dejon Sapphire Centre sprint where a local sapphire is up for grabs for all divisions.
A “hot spot sprint” will be the other chance for the points in the Smooth Beauty Sprint Queen competition for the women and Sprint King for the juniors.
Sunderland said it was an exciting change for the women’s race.
“It should see an aggressive race over the shorter distance compared to the 160km last year,” he said.
“The addition of the under 19 men’s race is intended to give the up and coming riders a chance to experience some of the tough course that hosts the Grafton to Inverell 228km Classic as well as being able to finish in front of what should be a huge crowd lining the finish in Inverell.”
$2500 in prizemoney is on offer for the Celtic Country Classic de Femme with the winner to collect $1000.
The Junior under 19 riders will be vying for their share of $1125, with the winner receiving $500.
Sunderland said there were also prizes for the overall Queen of the Mountain, King of the Mountain, Sprint Queen and Sprint King as well as random draw prizes at the presentation dinner.
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