Paul Gibson and Kea Mumford finish Scotsdale Slam in dead heat, Greg Newton completes podium

A small core of Albany Cycle Club members returned to the scenic Denmark hills for their latest handicap race, the Scotsdale Slam on March 21.

The 44km course is typical of Denmark with nowhere for the bubble in a spirit level to get comfortable between the lines.

Featuring over 500m of vertical ascent, riders were assured of a challenging day out.

Riders started in three groups two minutes apart.

The ‘go’ group of junior, Jacob Greenwood, and more experienced riders, Paul Gibson and Kea Mumford were looking to stay away from the Denmark trio of Paul Clifton, Greg Newton and David Beckwith, a straightforward enough assignment given two of those three typically struggle to get over a speed bump.

More challenging was the group four minutes behind of Ken Willis, Matt Bascombe and Colin Ashton Graham who, between them combined climbing prowess and a fair bit of horsepower.

The opening 13km of the course is uphill with the gradient gradually increasing as the climb progresses.

Towards the Alpaca Farm at the top of the climb, each group had riders in trouble and decisions were being made about slowing the pace to keep them in the group for the run out to the turn or to jettison them and press on with reduced numbers.

At the turn, the gaps between the groups had narrowed, but all had work to do to either stay in front or chase down those ahead on the road.

From the turn, heading back up to the high point, some riders were increasingly under pressure to maintain contact with their group and the second and third groups were ultimately blown apart.

Ken Willis dropped away from his group before Colin Ashton Graham broke away from Matt Bascombe.

Further up the road, too much flat land riding took its toll on Paul Clifton as he lost contact with Beckwith and Newton.

In the front group, Jacob Greenwood made a tactical decision to ease up over the last climb, recoup and wait for the chasers on the downhill to the finish.

Just over the crest from the Alpaca Farm, Ashton Graham bridged the gap to his Denmark compatriots, Newton and Beckwith and the three set off in a high-speed pursuit of the front of the race.

Swapping turns regularly, they collected Greenwood who hung tough on the back before slipping into the rotation.

As the race neared its conclusion, the rapidly narrowing gap meant the chasers, caught glimpses of their quarry.

However, they didn’t quite have enough road and in a tight sprint finish Gibson and Mumford couldn’t be separated, finishing in a dead heat.

Newton took third place.

Fastest time on the day was Colin Ashton Graham who completed the course in 89 minutes at an average speed of 34.4km/h.

Kea Mumford was the fastest woman in her return to road racing and Jacob Greenwood was fastest junior.

The club thanks the marshalls for doing the signs, timing and managing the turn-around.