Michael Gardiner claims final race of cycle season, Elleker Handicap named in honour of the late Graham Forte

The last race of the season on Albany Cycle Club’s racing calendar was the Elleker graded handicap on August 27.

This year the event was renamed the Graham Forte Memorial in honour of former long-time club member, Graham Forte, who tragically died earlier this year while out riding.

A variation on the usual handicap racing, a graded handicap format prioritises group cohesiveness over individual goals, resulting in highly tactical racing.

As is becoming typical with this race, there was a ‘breeze’ that would have done the North Sea proud and the ever-present threat of rain and hail.

Given the general inclemency, commissaire Keith Symes made the call to lop a lap off the race in the interests of rider and volunteer safety — a decision which had handicapper, Colin Ashton-Graham doing some wizardry.

First off the start line was the “continental” pair of Liz Cooper and David Beckwith who needed to outlast all other groups on the four laps of the pan-flat Elleker circuit.

With a total elevation of about 50m over the 37km, this is no Alpe d’Huez.

Following them, the “pro-continental” bunch of Michael Gardiner, Ashton-Graham, Mike Staude and Ryan McLaren had to make up three minutes on the previous pair and then keep away the “world tour” team of Brett Dal Pozzo and Vince Bascombe.

The extra complication was the presence of national road series riders, Murray Thornton, in his first race for a long time, and Dave Marshall, fresh off a very big back roads gravel ride, who, while racing a slightly shorter distance, still needed to be caught.

Beckwith and Cooper were reeled in by the remainders of the pro-continental team at the start of lap three.

Each had a crack at holding the wheel before falling away and regrouping to continue their battle for the C-grade title.

Ashton-Graham and Gardiner who had left Staude and McLaren behind some time earlier gradually rode away, maintaining a pace about 3km/h faster than their pursuers.

Behind them Dal Pozzo was chasing hard solo after Bascombe succumbed to the chill induced by underdressing, and somewhere in between Thornton and Marshall were trundling along, working together and holding a very consistent tempo.

Gardiner and Ashton-Graham’s pace proved to be decisive, reeling in first Thornton and then Marshall in the final stages of the last lap.

Gardiner took the overall win and B-grade title in a sprint finish with Ashton-Graham.

Marshall rounded out the podium in third and collected D-grade honours.

Dal Pozzo was fourth and A-grade champion with the fastest time on the day.

In another sprint finish, Cooper triumphed by half a wheel to take the C-grade title.

Post race, it was wonderful to hear Jane Forte talk of Graham, his love of cycling, the Elleker circuit, the various bike focused trips that they had undertaken, and his spreadsheet.

Graham rode over 100,000km on his bike.

Jane very generously sponsored the race along with Impulse Cycles, with Gardiner pocketing a healthy voucher.