Snow and sleet cause problems

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 628, 19 March 1996, Page 1

Snow and sleet cause problems

Riders in Saturday's cycling events in the Carnival of Wheels had an additional challenge to deal with in the form of bitterly cold weather conditions. Of the 71 starters in the Ohakune Hotel DB Round Ruapehu Classic fifty competitors withdrew during the race because the combination of snow and temperatures below three degrees for much of the 140km long race was unendurable for many. "Those who fini shed did so because of their total fitness, some really good riders had to pull out because they were not fit enough for these conditions" said race organiser Warrick Funnell. Mr Funnell added that the those who completed the race around Mt. Ruapehu had put in a physical effort equivalent to running two marathons. Early in the race a breakaway group of four riders led the field. Winner Brendon Vesty said his original plan had been to stay with the main group and then break away at the 100km mark, but so ex-

treme were the conditions that mentally he had to be out to win this race from the beginning, hence the early break-away group. One kilometre from the finish Brendon passed the other three and was able to get far enough in front of them that they couldn't catch him in the final sprint. Absolutely elated with his win, Brendon hopes to represent New Zealand at the next Olympics. Sunday dawned a brighter warmer day for the POwderhorn Chateau Criterium Racing. Remarkably recovered from the previous days exertions, competitors put on a grand sho w of cycling on the T yne Street/Thames Street circuit. Criterium racing is definitely a crowd pleaser, as cyclists in impossibly tight bunches negotiate impossibly tight corners at impossibly high speeds. Wacky Wheels A handfUl of entrants with whacky contraptions cycled, pedalled and roller skated their way down Goldfinch St. from the Powderhorn Chateau to

Peak FM. Whacky entries ranged from a golf trundler filled with balloons, a replica of a car that was carried by two girls on roller skates, bicycles designed by maintenance crew that gave Penny Farthing bicycles a run for their money, a bicycle towing a pedal cart with an umbrella protecting it's driver from the rain. Congratulations and glory to all, especially the pedal cart drivers whose little legs did about ten times more revolutions than anyone else's. The $300 prize went to Tony Fletcher who was judged by Bob Peck to have best met the criteria of the most outrageous non motorised design that could survive the trip from the Junction to Peak FM in one piece. Tony is an electrician at Turoa and he let on that the bottom half of his pink contraption was actually a ten speed bike frame inverted, and the rest of the design came from the maintenance crew from Turoa one night after a few beers. Full results will be in next week's Ruapehu Bulletin.