NSW HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIPS & THE BLAYNEY to BATHURST
	GOLDEN GIRLS Congratulations to our State hill climb champions, Golden Girls, Anna Murray and Sue Henry.  Sue won the Masters 2 event in a time of 12:38 and Anna won the Masters 4 Womens event in a time of 12:24. Congratulations girls !! Report & more pictures here Picture left was published in, and kindly supplied by the Western Advocate newspaper

REPORT

The 10^th April saw over 40 RBCC riders turn up for the B2B weekend of racing including the NSW Hillclimb championships.

The Saturday racing saw Sue Henry continue her impressive run of results and take the crown of NSW hill climb champion, thrashing the field to win by over half a minute in her womens age group. (we don’t mention womens ages).  Fabulous result also was Anna Murray's (Princiapal of RBCC sponsor Ciclismo) Gold medal in the Masters 4 Women event.  The other RBCC success for the day was Craig Hibbards 2^nd place in the mens Div4 crit.

Saturday evening saw a large RBCC contingent at the GT Angus steakhouse and this year Barry Mourad put his learnings from last year into practice, deciding that the more traditional carbo loading with pasta is preferable to vast quantities of wine and a subsequent hangover.    However, the group left the restaurant sober and slightly dejected after new club captain Dave Bomba declined to give a motivational speech to his team.

Sunday didn’t look good with rain, but come the start, the rain stopped and the roads started to dry out.  This year in the 110k race there was a good representation of RBCC riders in the 40kph+ group, including some who came in after a bit of (justified) peer-pressure.  The pace on the way out to the turn was generally comfortable although early pace up the first hills led to splits in the bunch and a lot of riders getting dropped.  Julian Robertshawe continues to improve under his new coach and was looking very strong on the way out to the Trunkey creek turn staying on or around the front.  The Trunkey turn however showed his coach still has some work to do on the tactical side of things, as Julian went up the hill as quickly as he could, powering past the whole bunch to get to the front and the climbers.  His coach, further back in the bunch, and only doing the work he needed to get to the top still in the bunch was seen to be shaking his head in distress at his pupils over-exuberance.  A few other riders started to struggle here, Alan Smith’s bad luck continuing with a put-out back, and Shane Mattiske still recovering from a 230k ride a couple of weeks earlier dropping-off.  The pace then kept high with the bunch gradually reducing in size as more riders suffered from cramp (and lack of fitness).  Rick Jordan in a rich vein of form, rode off the front of the bunch with 10ks until the KOM, and stayed away for a while with one other rider.  If only he’d been wearing the club jersey, we’d have realised it was a club member off the front and wouldn’t have chased him down!  This year the climb has been sealed so the KOM was a bit easier.  Julian keeping with the pace and recording a top 10 finish in the 40kph+ group (he says).