the collie-donnybrook return race is one of those special handicap races that give everyone a chance of winning the major prize. in this case this race boasts over $4000 in prizes and trophies.
here is how it works. just say you are one of the top “a” grade riders in perth. well then you get to start from 0 minutes also known as scratch. if you are a decent “b” grade rider, the you may get 10 or 12 minutes headstart, if you are a girl, you may get up to 20 minutes headstart. all things are taken into consideration when a handicap is given including previous results in other graded races. you won’t be out there by yourself either. you start in a group of up to 10 and then you all work together to stay ahead while trying to catch those in front. the deal is, once you catch the ones ahead, then you should all work together to keep your speed up. if scratch does eventually catch you, then the group is usually pretty big by then so there are lots of places to hide.
it is run over 104kms so it may be a bit of a strecth for some of our regular racing guys. however, there are usually lots of others out there to get you home.
if you have never raced this type of event before, then you are in for something different as it is a real cat and mouse approach to racing. it is also on a saturday at lunch time for a change. there is also a support race (which is over 50kms and can use day licences) and a participation race for both road and mtb’s.
the flyer can be found here and registration can be found here.
registration closes monday 15th aug at 11:30pm, so basically get your in now. add to the comments below if you are heading down so we can get an idea of numbers.
oh, i am registered. see what handicap i get.
I’m in too.
I have entered.
Interesting to note the difference in rego fees, between paper form
http://www.wa.cycling.org.au/site/cycling/wa/downloads/2011/Events/20.08.11%20Collie%20Donnybrook%20Classic%20-Collie%20CC/2011-Collie-Donnybrook-Flyer-FINALV3TH.pdf
and CWA online registration.
If you can get 10-12 minutes as a decent ‘B’ grade rider, and up to 20 minutes if you are a girl, what do you reckon I could get as a slightly crap ‘C’ grade rider? 40-45 minutes?? 🙂
Is this you Wongie? C’mon, stop it……you’re not a “crappy’ C grade rider. You’re just a crappy rider… full stop.
Raph.. now I think you need to apologise to 2 Andrews !
Mwuah ha ha
I’m in for the support race.
Registered for handicap race…
Opps… I’ve wonged 2 andrews…. does that make me right?
I’ll be there, sounds like an interesting race
i’ll be there hopefuly the handi-capper is going to be nice to me
I’ve registered for the pain 🙂
Just saw a team of riders heading into the South Freo caravan park (obviously a poor team). I guess they are from the East coast and here for the handicap race – so it looks like there is going to be some serious racing. Couldn’t quite make out the team name (predominantly white with some orange) but it was about 5pm so I guess they had been out all day. Oh, the life of a wanna-be pro.
Should be down for the handicap race tomorrow.
And the winners were…..
Not me 🙁