SANCTUARY Lakes Resort has landed a massive sporting coup by hosting the start of the 2007 Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic.
The classic, founded in 1895, will be held on Saturday, 27 October and at 300km is the world’s longest and second-oldest one-day bike race.
Its honour roll reads like a who’s who of Australian road cycling, with Sir Hubert Opperman, Russell Mockridge, Dean Woods and Peter Besanko among race legends.
Sanctuary Lakes general manager Peter Butler said he was delighted that such a high-profile and historic event would start at the resort.
“We look forward to working with the Sanctuary Lakes and Warrnambool communities on making the event highly successful,” Butler said.
He said Sanctuary Lakes, with its no-through-traffic zones and links to bike paths and the bay, was a perfect location for cycling.
About 200 top-flight professional cyclists from Australia and overseas will contest the classic, to start at 7.30am at the Lakes clubhouse.
The best riders will finish in Warrnambool’s Raglan Parade about 3pm.
All competitors completing the course inside two hours of the winner’s time will receive a medal from Warrnambool City Council.
Race director John Craven said the Warrnambool Citizens’ Road Race Committee was thrilled that the classic would start at Sanctuary Lakes.
“The resort is an impressive and safe location and the atmosphere at the start will be tremendous,” Craven said.
“The Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic is an Australian sporting institution and Sanctuary Lakes will now become part of that history.”
The ‘Warrnambool’ was conducted as a handicap event for its first 100 years and became a massed start race in 1996.
The first race in 1895 was won by Andrew Calder, who received two hours’ start on the scratchmen.
Calder, one of 24 starters, took 11 hours, 44 minutes, 30 seconds for the 165-mile trip, and was reported to have got through on eggs, milk and beef extract.
Ninety-five years later, Olympic gold medallist Dean Woods clocked a stunningly fast 5:12.26 seconds to set the course record.
Only five overseas riders have won the event – the New Zealanders J. Arnst (1903) and P. Hill (1922), Switzerland’s Daniel Schnider in 1977, Bart Heirewegh of Belgium, in ’98, and Sweden’s Jonas Ljungblad in 2005.
The race has been held 91 times, with extensive recesses taken during the war years, and has been run in the reverse direction, from Warrnambool to Melbourne, 32 times.
