Morwell to Glenmaggie - 11 November 2001

The annual Morwell to Glenmaggie Road Race was held on the weekend. With conditions looking rather average only a small bunch of 8 fearless riders were prepared to brave the elements. After a slight delay to the start due to a hail storm the peleton left Morwell and headed out to Toms Bridge. In the pouring rain, a few riders were starting to think it may be the longest 65km of their lives.

Unfortunately in only his third race for the club Paul Fehlberg punctured and except for Gray McLachlan nobody realised and they were left stranded.

Once the racing got serious Rob Reid made a early break going into Tyers and put a minute between himself and the chasing bunch. With Glen Gibson doing most of the work out front and not getting a lot of support from the rest of the pack the chance of making some time on Reid was not good.

At the 30km mark Reid had stretched his lead to over 2 minutes. At this stage the clouds cleared and the roads dried out which gave some of the tiring bunch a second wind . Ian Draper, Alan Beveridge, Steve Rieniets and Bill Pace made every effort to assist Gibson but they could only manage some short bursts and could not make any time up on Reid. Without the help of the powerful Gray McLachlan, the chase was looking all the more impossible. After missing out on the Trophy last year Reid was determined to make a big effort and was not giving an inch.

It was obvious to most spectators by the 50km marker Reid was not going to be caught. He went on to take out a well deserved win, coming in over 3 minutes ahead of the exhausted bunch.

At the presentation Rob thanked all the riders that did not race but volunteered to do corner duty and man the support cars.

Thanks to all the helpers on the day. Pete, Bruce, Bill, Bob, Daryl and Sharon for those excellent spicy snags.

1. Rob Reid
2. Glen Gibson
3. Bill Pace

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