Griffith to host NSW masters road race championships
Friday September 12, 2014
The Griffith Cycle Club is gearing up for an exciting three days of road racing from 27–29 September when it hosts the [YellowTail] Visy NSW Masters Road Race Championships, expected to attract hundreds of visitors to Griffith. The NSW Masters Road Race Championships are the largest cycling championships of any ages or disciplines held in NSW each year.
“This is a fantastic first-time event for our city and I congratulate the Griffith Cycle Club for their initiative and hard work in putting this event together and extend a warm welcome to visiting cyclists and their families,” said Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi.
Phil Ayres, CEO of Cycling NSW, said the organisation was delighted to be taking the NSW Masters Road Race Championships to Griffith for the first time in the championship’s history.
“The Griffith Cycle Club has put in a tremendous amount of work into the championships to ensure they are a great success and we are also delighted with the support Griffith City Council is providing these championships,” Mr Ayres said. “Indeed, the support from the entire local community has been outstanding. We have received great support from numerous sponsors, all local companies, who are putting in to ensure the championships attract great numbers to Griffith,” Mr Ayres added.
Mr Ayres explained that “these may be Masters age riders but the competition will be as fierce on the course as any of the ‘elite’ age categories and in some categories we have champions from yesteryear who have represented Australia at World, Commonwealth and Olympic Games.”
Griffith’s own Jenni Massey is the defending State titleholder in the women’s master 6 division as well as the Australian Champion. The Griffith Cycle Club is very excited to bring an event of this stature to Griffith, with prize pool close to $25,000 including early-bird prizes, even a new bike and $12,000 prize money, said Peter Budd, Publicity Officer for the club.
“The [YellowTail] Visy NSW Masters Road Race Championships is a big step for the Griffith Cycle Club. To host an event of this magnitude is a tremendous credit to how the club has grown in the last few years,” Mr Budd said. “There will be three days of action racing with some of the fittest masters riders in Australia. We are excited about the road course which loops around the airport and back up over Scenic Hill – it should encourage some very aggressive riding with the hill-top finish particularly hard to judge where timing is crucial to hitting the line at speed,” Mr Budd added.
The three-day event will also include the high-speed Criterium Racing around Benerembah Street on Sunday September 28 and Individual Time Trials on Scenic Hill on Monday September 29. Please visit http://nsw.cycling.org.au/ for information about Cycling NSW and http://www.griffithcycleclub.com/ for information about the Griffith Cycle Club, including road closures.
