| 3 Day Tour 25th, 26th and 17th April 2008 |
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| The inaugural Tour D�Ord River was held in Kununurra over the Anzac Long weekend. It comprised of three stages which consisted of a twilight Criterium, a 10km individual time trial and a 49km handicap race around the local farming areas.
The weather was perfect all weekend and all competitors agreed that the organisers did a great job ordering it for the race. The first stage was a Criterium held around the town industrial area and was a very fast but technical 500m course. The race was held in a handicapped format with the first bunch having a head start of 2 laps on the second group with the scratch group having a handicap of 4 laps to the front bunch. The race was 30mins and 3 laps. Right from the start the scratch group made it�s intentions known as they stormed around the course at 45km/h for the first 8 laps before they settled into their rhythm. The group of Brendan Den, Glenn Taylor and Steven Jansen were soon on equal terms with the block group and started to wind in on the leading group. The riders were all even coming into the final 12 laps and soon the scratch rider Brendan was on the attack trying to rid himself of the rest of the field. Glenn had clawed his way back to Brendan when Steven launched himself in a straight out the book counter attack which proved to be the winning move. Glenn and Brendan put up a great chase and it came down to the wire with Steven winning by 3 seconds over a very quick pairing of Brendan and Glenn. Wendy Den put in a big attack halfway through the race to put a lap into the rest of the ladies to score her second consecutive victory. A enormous effort which was the result of the 7 days of motor pacing done in preparation for the race. All competitors found the course very demanding and the legs were hopefully going to recover in time for the following day�s stage. There were a few tired legs coming into stage two, which was held on an out and back time trial course that all the competitors were familiar with having ridden it some 4 weeks previously. All riders started off well but only two riders bettered their previous best times. Jesse took some 17 seconds off his PB, even after battling a severe cold for the last few days. Marion, just back from a months racing over in the Northern Territory and South Australia, had the form to take a full 19 seconds off the ladies record. Wendy finished 30 seconds off the pace obviously hurting from the previous day�s mammoth efforts with Tracy finishing third and Jackie fourth. The men�s division was a pretty close affair with Glenn finishing third, Brendan was second and Steven only just scrapping in for a slender victory. After the finish Steven was overhead remarking on the great depth of field that the club has produced over the past twelve months. It may be fair to point out that Wendy and Tracy had participated in a triathlon training course on Saturday morning and were feeling the effect of the effort as well as the criterium the previous evening. It all came down to the final stage over 49km. It too was run as a handicap, with Marion, Wendy, Peter, Terry and Jackie all starting first with a 5 minutes advantage over the second group. This group consisted of 3 riders, namely Trevor Floyd, Jesse Mortensen and Keith Good. This group had a buffer of 2 minutes on the block group which consisted of Brendan Den and Glen Taylor. They were given a two and a half minute gap back to scratch which was a solitary rider being Steven Jansen. The girls got off to an average start working well and slowly picking up the pace. They were eventually caught just before the 25km mark by the combined 5 and 7 minute markers who had been working well as a big bunch. For a moment it looked like the bunch would stay together to the end of the race, but with only scratch left to catch the front bunch they decided to press on and take their chances. Glenn, Brendan, Jesse and Jackie were soon some 2 1/2minutes ahead of the second group on the road by the time Steven finished his first lap and he had his work cut out for him if he was to catch the front bunch. Halfway through the last lap he managed to claw back just over a minute, before the front bunch realised and put the hammer down with 6km to go. They opened the gap back to just over a minute. Brendan managed to slip away from Glenn to gain a slim 3 second gap to win the final stage over Glenn with Steven third and a courageous fourth by the flu infected Jesse. The ladies section was won by an almost animal-like showing of strength by Jackie, who might I say managed to hang in with the 2min bunch almost all they way to the finish; an outstanding effort. Second place came down to a heart stopping climax with Marion and Wendy drag racing down the finishing straight. It came down to a photo finish with Wendy just edging out Marion by a mere 3cm! All in all it was a great start to hopefully an annual event with 3 different stage winners in the ladies section and 2 winners in the men�s; showing the depth of talent we have in our tiny but significant club. We would like to thank Gail, Emily, George, Alba and Jodie for their help in running the event. Steven Jansen Vice President KNXCC |