Cycling Otago held the penultimate race of its Monday night series of races for the year last night and there was plenty of pace on through the event.
The switch to Monday nights had proved to be a boon for road cyclists in Dunedin who wanted to keep their hand in or join the sport but found it too hard to commit to weekends, Cycling Otago president Paula Hasler said. The series had proved immensely popular and was drawing cyclists from right across the board.
"We are able to cater for everyone. You can have your serious riders right down to the juniors who are just starting out," she said.
Cycling Otago has held two series of Monday night meetings, one through February-March and the other over the past eight weeks.
Races can be for juniors, who just do the one lap of the circuit, or up to seven laps for the most competitive riders. Up to 70 riders usually take part in races.
"It can be quite feisty, too. There are no rules around bunch riding, so we get pack riding and guys get very competitive. But they’ll all be friends at the end and there can be big bunch sprints."
The race takes place on a 5.2km loop in North Taieri known as the Salisbury Circuit, which starts in Wairongoa Rd. Hasler said the residents welcomed the racing.
"People like to come out on a Monday, have a good ride of about an hour and then find they can be back home at just after seven."
She said the club still had some classic races at weekends and a mini tour during the year, but Saturday rides had been falling in popularity.
"What we were finding was that the numbers were dwindling for the rides every Saturday. We were just not getting them there. Now we have those classic races, memorial races, maybe four or five a year, which are still proving popular."
She said many parents had joined the sport as they were watching their children compete on the Monday night, so they thought they might as well join in.
The club had welcomed 30 new members over the past year, a rise of 25%, which was great. A youth development academy had also been set up to help educate and improve young riders.
Cycling Otago would hold a Peninsula Connection handicap race on Sunday for riders. The club usually holds the Dean Cooksley Memorial race around this time in a race to Taieri Mouth and back. But roadworks had made the race impossible so the Peninsula Connection race was happening instead.
The handicap race runs from Vauxhall to Taiaroa Head and then back to Portobello before turning off for a scenic ride over the high road and finishing at Rotary Park.
The Cooksley Memorial race should be back early next year.
