The riders who have done the event in previous years all were enthusiast about the new circuit with start directly over Mount Panorama with a gradient going up to 12% but also the first part that followed was harder than most had expected with roads that always went up and down for a total elevation of 1440+ m over a distance of 100km. The race started in different waves with a first elite wave scoring the fastest times. Two brothers finally sprinted for victory with Samuel Hill (M19-34) winning before his older brother Benjamin Hill. William Hodges completed the overall male podium to finish alone in third but also the rest of the field came in in small groups, proving the course had been hard.
9 females who all started together in one wave sprinted for victory in the streets of Bathurst with Emily Watts (F19-34) showing her strong legs to win before Simone Grounds (F40-44) and Dayna Davidson (F45-49), all winning their respective age groups.
In the time trial that was held as a hill climb on the day before, Katie Banerjee was the fastest female in a time of 10:19 (23 km/h average) beating her compatriots Simone Grounds and Josie Talbot by respectively 10 and 15 seconds over the 4.1km distance.
The male time trial also had the two brothers battling for victory with this time Benjamin Hill winning 2 seconds ahead of Samuel Hill while U23 rider Lachlan Harrigan took overall third spot. Benjamin’s average speed was 29 km/h.
