Cycling: Aucklander Griffin's sweet revenge over Mudgway over Gentle Annie

Aucklander Logan Griffin is jubilant after winning the Gentle Annie cycling race on Saturday. Photo/Duncan Brown

Aucklander Logan Griffin spoiled Hawke's Bay professional Luke Mudgway's farewell plans when he won Saturday's 144km Gentle Annie cycling race from Taihape to Hastings.

Like Griffin, Mudgway, had never won the Hawke's Bay Technologies-sponsored event and was hoping for a winning farewell before travelling to Europe on Wednesday to prepare for seven months of racing with the EvoPro Racing team.

Griffin beat Mudgway by 4m.09s when he crossed the finish line at Roosters Brew House after 3hrs50m23s on his bike.

It was a case of sweet revenge for GD Pringles/Spoken Cycles rider Griffin, who was beaten by Mudgway in January's annual Hub Three-Day Tour in Hawke's Bay when Mudgway staged a dramatic last stage win to clinch victory.

"Luke and I have had a few good battles over the years. I think he is still one up on me," Griffin, 23, quipped afterwards.

It was cycling coach Griffin's fourth attempt at the race, which attracted a record field of 170, including 20 women, and while he had made the top five in his previous three Griffin had never been on the podium.

"I promised myself I would keep coming back until I won it. Now it will take a while to convince myself to enter it again. I'll have to wait until closer to next year's event before I decide ... once I forget the pain."

Griffin agreed the Gentle Annie is almost as scenic as Coromandel Peninsula's K2 race.

"It certainly has a similar amount of climbing."

His next major event will be next month's national club championships in Christchurch.

After only 8km on Saturday the first break in the field occurred on Spooners Hill and a group of 8-10 riders including Griffin, Mudgway and Hawke's Bay's defending champion, Team Tank Guy's William Green, had formed at the head of the field.

Riding with the first chase pack, as she would for the rest of the day, was women's favourite Velo Project's Kirsty McCallum of Hawke's Bay.

It was on the third climb of the day, to Ngamatea Station, that Griffin and Mudgway separated themselves from the rest of the field. They set about building a lead on the bunch, but the co-operation was short-lived.

By the time the two riders hit the steepest climb of the day, the Gentle Annie, Griffin had decided to go it alone. He reached the top in the lead and raced solo for the final 60km.

Mudgway, 22, continued alone for second and held off Green who finished solo in third almost two minutes behind Mudgway in 3hrs56m55s.

"Logan is a strong climber and a strong time trialist. When he got away from me it was too hard to bring me back. He had a good Oceania Games the previous weekend and is going really well," Mudgway said.

"I'll be back again next year ... hopefully Logan enters again."

Mudgway pointed out he is continuing to build for the remainder of the year and doesn't intend to peak until September.

A recent Oceania bronze medallist, McCallum, finished 15th overall and was a comfortable winner of the women's title in 4hrs19m.14s.

An excellent climber, McCallum, last won the women's title in 2017. Her mother Carol McCallum was second in the women's category and 45th overall in 4hrs48m30.49s.

Aileen Campbell completed the Hawke's Bay trifecta with a time of 5hrs05m02s. This was a 25 minute improve from last year and placed her 55th overall.

There was plenty of interest in how last month's Coast to Coast multisport event top 10 finisher Scott McDonald of Hawke's Bay would handle the event. He did well to finish 13th in 4hrs17m19s.

Mudgway's father, John Mudgway, 50, is the only rider to have started in all eight editions of the Gentle Annie. He was 44th overall in 4hrs48m30.37s