Haden goes back to back at club champs

The trophy winners for the Wanganui Cycling Club championships. From left, Glenn Haden, Catherine McMurray, Finnegan Murphy, Kyle Hoskin, Pat Johnstone.

The Wanganui Cycling Club competitors had to suffer for their art in very cold and miserable conditions in the hunt to claim one of five trophies at the 2017 club championships on Saturday.

Thirty riders fronted on the Francis-Montgomery Rd circuit.

The open race (Under 50 years) was held over nine laps for the Heenan Cup.

Those elite riders stayed together for two laps before 2016 winner Glenn Haden lit up the race, taking Brendon Sharratt, Jason Sturzaker, Shanan Whitlock and Adrian Pettit for a distance.

Haden and Sharratt then broke away, extending their lead every lap.

Soon Sturzaker and the bulk of the field retired from the race, feeling cold and tired, leaving the pair to fight it out for the win.

Haden eventually took the honours from Sharratt by one second, with Whitlock in third and Pettit fourth, having shown iron will in adverse conditions.

The 6 lap race for the Rosoman Cup (Over 50 Masters) had the largest field of the day.

The opening lap saw Johnny Black take a flyer, with nobody committing to chase.

Black stayed clear for half a lap before being caught by the field, then on the third lap Pat Johnstone had a burst on the highway, 500m past Montgomery Rd.

That put a lot of riders under the pump, with only Rob Gemmell, Stephen Snell, Darcy Forrester, Phillip Groves and Martin Hogan managing to hang on.

Eventually, the relentless Johnstone took Gemmell with him up the road, distancing the others in the sprint for the line.

Johnstone won, followed by Gemmell with Snell coming third a further minute back after out-sprinting Forrester and Groves.

Further back was Allan Luff, fresh off winning the Cambridge Nationals time trial and road race for his age group the previous week.

Luff was working with Black and workhorse Rob Manson to catch Hogan, who had dropped off the leading group.

Hogan, who was having a great ride, held on by six seconds for fourth, being followed by Black, Luff and Manson.

Noel Turner competed well, showing improvement on the hilly course.

The Under 15 grade competed for the McMeekin Cup, which was taken out by Finnegan Murphy with a gap back to Logan Hoskin in second.

The Anderson Family Cup for open woman was raced over six laps.

Catherine McMurray, silver medallist from the National road champs, broke away on the second lap and took the win over runnerup Ellie Bowen and Heather Johnston in third.

Under 17 riders were racing for the Brotherston Cup over six laps.

This saw a close race with Kyle Hoskin come first, chased hard by Aiden Jones in second.