CYCLING
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SUNDAY’S Tamworth Cycling Club criterium was a good one for the Saunders family.
John won B grade and Anne C grade with Jess coming in third.
Peter Nash split mother and daughter after making the initial move.
John won from Alan Spokes and Lachlan Mackay.
B and A grade raced together with the B graders riding for 30 minutes and two laps, and A grade 35 minutes before the final two laps.
Mitch Carrington was first across the line in A grade in a sprint finish.
He outsprinted Fraser Ashford and Phil Kelleher.
Carrington had broken away with about five minutes to go but was reeled in.
“I just tried to make the race really hard,” he said.
“I’m going to Newcastle this weekend and wanted to see how my legs were going.”
He’ll ride in the Orica Kermesse with his Paradice Investment team down in Newcastle on Saturday.
It’ll be his first race for the season with them.
Kermesse is common in Western Europe and is similar to a criterium in that riders complete a set number of laps around a course. It is essentially a big criterium with races usually around 100km.
Carrington said on Sunday when he saw the field was catching up to him he backed off a bit so he had enough legs for the sprint.
“I had enough to get around Fraser in the last straight,” he said.
Earlier Anne Saunders had tagged onto Jess’ wheel and outsprinted her and Nash.
“I wanted to get Jess’ wheel,” she said.
She thought she’d be her best shot for a sprint.
“Out of the last corner I said I think I’ve got more than her,” she said.
John then broke away with Spokes in the last couple of laps and held off the chasers.
There will be no Tamworth criterium on Sunday due to the Armidale Club’s criterium, which is run as part of the Autumn
Festival.
Several of the Tamworth members will be competing in that.
Carrington is backing up from the Newcastle race, and is bringing the Paradice team up with him.