Kevin Smith Memorial Race - Otaki, 12 December 2009

Saturday 12 December was the fourth Kevin Smith Memorial handicap race. This race honours the memory of Kevin Smith, a keen vet cyclist who was a PNP President and a big fan of handicap races, where everyone has a chance for victory. He passed away on 16 August 2005. This year it followed a picturesque country circuit just east of Otaki - the location was chosen to reflect his efforts to bring together cycling groups from the Wellington and Horowhenua regions.

I was a bit worried when I woke up to strong gusty winds, showers and big dark clouds. However by the time we got out to Otaki (thanks to Gary Gibson for giving us a ride) the skies had cleared and it was looking quite nice.

The field was small, about 30 people altogether, so they combined Limit with Break 4, Break 3 with Break 2 and Break 1 with Scratch. I was in the first group to go. We had to do seven laps of a 7.5km circuit. The hill at the start was steep and went up in steps, two of the people in our group dropped the rest of us and we didn’t see them till the end. That split the group for a while, as Beth Balmer and I worked together for a while, but the others soon caught up, so we all crossed the line together.

The second lap was pretty ordinary. Beth, Candice Pretorious, Candice’s Dad, my brother Jony and I worked well together in a steady pace line, each taking turns at the front. In the third lap Candice and I got away on the hill. The two of us set a hard pace for ourselves and got a good gap back to the others.




















Candice and I rode the rest of the race together, but she gained a little bit on me on the final descent and crossed the finish line a few meters in front of me. Unfortunately Beth got a puncture. Jony and Mr Pretorious worked together and came through the finish together.

In the end I got first placed Under 15, which pleased me as a good way to finish the grade - after New Year I'll be moving up to U17. The first U17 rider was Vaughn Pretorious. Sam King-Turner got the fastest time in 1.24.11. Paul Larkin won the Kevin Smith Memorial Trophy for 2009 after winning the sprint against Graham Hawkins and Steve Chapman.

It was a brilliant day despite the small turnout and the weather was good to us. Thanks to all volunteers including Malcolm Allen, Gary Gibson, Aaron Anderson, Simon O’Reilly, Rebecca O’Donnell, Dave, Glen Offord, Alan Rice and my little sister Martine Barnes. We owe the biggest thank you to Rachel Anderson-Smith, the race manager for organising such a wonderful race. I can’t wait till next year's race.