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02/11/2008: "VELOSPORT BEV MAY WOMEN'S TOUR - REPORT"

The 9th & 10th of February hosted a fantastic women's field of over 85 riders at the 19th annual VeloSport Bev May Women's Tour. Thank you to VeloSport (Cambridge), Endurance Sport (Hamilton) and Ultimo Clothing (Wellington) for your sponsorship of tour prizes and jerseys. We are grateful at Morrinsville Wheelers to have you on board as our major sponsors for the women's tour. Your enthusiasm for this event and increased rider participation means our event is gaining higher status each year.

In the A Grade a number of young riders pushed their hand forward with Emma Peterson in Stage One, Rachel Mercer in the time trial with a fantastic 30 minute effort for the 21km course and Emma Crum (taking the lead when she entered a break away with Toni Bradshaw, Rushlee Buchanan and Karen Fulton). The tour lead was still up for the taking when in the last stage (criterium) when Toni Bradshaw and Marina Duvnjak put in a huge effort with a break awayand forced Toni's hand into the VeloSportTour Leader in General Classification for the second time in a row.

Top positions were 1st Toni Bradshaw, 2nd Emma Crum, 3rd Karen Fulton, 4th Rushlee Buchanan, 5th Rachel Mercer, 6th Marina Duvnjak. To add to her results Toni Bradshaw took home the Ultimo Sprint Ace jersey and Emma Crum the Ultimo Hill Climber jersey.

The B Grade Tour was also changing hands with Emily Collins (Stage One), Rachel Larner (Stage 2) but was cemented in Stage three to Maddy Brunton who managed to gain a lead over her competitors when she snuck away on the hilly 95km circuit. In the criterium Maddy stayed with the main B Grade bunch and held onto a handy lead of 40 seconds over Rachel Larner and ultimately took the VeloSport B Grade Tour Leader jersey.

Placings: 1st Maddy Brunton, 2nd Rachel Larner, 3rd Alice Ross, 4th Emily Collins, 5th Stephanie Everson, 6th Sandra Ginever. Ultimo Queen of the Mountains went to Emily Collins and the Ultimo Sprint Ace went to Rosy McCall after a close battle with Sandra Ginever.

C Grade was a new event (sponsored by Endurance Sport). 10 Entries enabled women to have shortened stages but still the fierceness of competition. Jemima Brindle proved too strong for competitors over all stages with a handy lead of 7 mins 47 over Helene Morton Farrelly & Mary van Huysen 9 mins 20 back in GC. 4th Jo Goudie.

U17 was an interesting competition with Queensland visitor Brodie Stewart putting in a huge challenge at all turns and eventually took out the Endurance Sport Tour Leader. This too was no easy feat as the lead changed hands throughout the weekend. Firstly Danielle Harford won stage one. Brodie Stewart took the lead in the time trial (having done 21km in 35.29 on a standard bike). Brodie then held the jersey all the way to the finish with the help of Zoe Anderson and a break away in the criterium stage. Placings: 1st Brodie Stewart, 2nd Danielle Harford, 3rd Ashleigh Neave, 4th Kate MacDonald, 5th Zoe Anderson, 6th Philippa Sutton. Ultimo Hill Climber Went to Brittany Thompson (with three girls on the same points it went to a count back on who won the final hill climb) and the Ultimo Sprint Ace went to Zoe Anderson after she and Brodie dominated the sprints in the criterium.

U15 very few riders took part in the U15 section of the tour, but those who did gained much experience of having raced amongst their U17 peers. Stage three was a shortened event so the girls did 27km rather than the 45 their U17 peers did. Ellie Heenan proved a tough competitor who took out the Endurance Sport Tour Leader the Ultimo Hill Climber and Ultimo Sprint Ace jerseys. 1st Ellie Heenan, 2nd Robin Hacker, 3rd Georgina Read and 4th Hannah Beazley.



MORRINSVILLE WHEELERS RIDERS

A handful of Morrinsville Wheelers riders took part in the VeloSport Bev May Women's Tour. In B Grade: Sandra Ginever put in improved performances to stay in the bunch for the most part of Stage One (only losing 49 seconds at the top of Quine Road). In the time trial she won the B Grade division in a time of 33.05 - this was the 4th fastest time trial of the day from A/B Grade combined. In Stage 3 she lost 12 minutes on the B Grade leader (but was happy to stay with the bunch the first time up Morgan Road). In the criterium she was 2nd B Grader. In the Sprint Ace Competition Sandra and Rosy McCall had a tough battle with Rosy ultimately taking the lead in the criterium event.

In the C Grade: Mary van Huysen put in a fantastic effort to come 3rd overall in this division. In three races of four she placed 3rd and in stage 3 she placed 4th. Very consistent. In the time trial Mary did 40.44. Stephanie Todd entered her first Bev May Women's Tour and put in some great efforts. In Stage one she missed a turn with two other riders and was given a calculated time. In the other stages she was 9th overall and after a consistent effort was given 9th placing overall. This is a great effort for Stephanie as she is only a recent member of Morrinsville Wheelers. Keep up the great work! Sheryl Chapman also a new member to Morrinsville Wheelers entered her first ever Bev May Women's Tour. In Stage 1 she was 7th, Stage 2 7th, Stage 3, 6th and Stage 4 7th. Sheryl's final placing was 7th overall. WELL DONE!!

In the U17 competition: Gemma Murrell improved on her placings remarkably taking placings 14th in Stage 1 (31 sec down on winner), Stage 2, 14th in 39.55 (time trial) and Stage 3, 11th and in stage 4 she finished 12th. Overall Gemma was 11th . Gemma was putting in some attacks up the hills and showed great aggression out there and was only 6 minutes down on the Aussie tour leader. We know that Gemma has put in some huge training over the Summer period and it really does show! Keep up the good work Gemma, it will pay you back some time soon!! :)

In the U15 competition Georgina Read gave it her all for her first ever Bev May Women's Tour. Her training has improved her ability and she said she feels more confident riding in bigger bunches after doing the tour. It was quite difficult for U15 riding with U17. Having said this amongst her peers Georgina finished 4th U15/U13 rider in Stage 1, was given a calculated time for the time trial when she unfortuantely had a fall when traffic got too close making her fall heavily onto her shoulder. In Stage three she was 4th over the 27km stage and the criterium 5th. Overall Georgina was given 3rd place in the U15/U13 grade. Georgina can put this tour down to experience. With some more racing in the club she will improve more yet - watch this space!

As we get available time we will put up comprehensive results to the 2008 VeloSport Bev May Women's Tour!