RIDERS from the Footscray Cycling Club converged on Williamstown High School on Anzac Day with one aim in mind, winning the coveted 53rd Bob Robson Memorial.
The race is one of the major races on the local cycling calendar that has been won by some of Australian cycling’s great champions over the years.
Supported by the Williamstown RSL, the Robson Family, the Hobson’s Bay Council and the Footscray Cycling Club, it is a race that favours the brave.
The tight and demanding one km course around Williamstown High School is arguably the toughest circuit race in Victoria, with many vantage points around the street circuit ensuring fans to get up close and personal as riders dig deep in search of this prestigious win.
In the Main Race, 35-year-old Kensington resident and long time Footscray member Adam Murchie broke a 15 year hoodoo by taking out the prize that has eluded him for so long.
Murchie and 25-year-old rising star Adam Trewin formed a successful breakaway. With attack after attack for the first 20 minutes leaving most riders “on the rivet,” Trewin chose the perfect time to attack.
“Adam started the break and he attacked at precisely the best moment in the race to attack,” an elated Murchie said.
“ … and as soon as I saw him go, everyone looked around and that gave me the opportunity to go as well. “He (Trewin) rode a brilliant race. You need to race this one hard, it’s always won from the front, and almost every year I have ridden it, it has been won from a small break.
“It’s a technical course, so you have to go on the offensive and get up the road. We had no idea how big the gap was. Every lap I was yelling at Adam to hold on and give it everything he had.”
With their lead increasing with every lap, the chasing bunch lost drive and seemed to reconcile themselves to a sprint for third. With Murchie leading out the sprint as they rounded the final corner, he crossed the line just ahead of his breakaway partner Trewin, with gun sprinter Nathan Page leading home the bunch 30 seconds later to take the bunch sprint and third place.
The judges forgot to inform the riders in the Support Race that they weren’t the main event and consequently the pace from the first lap through to the last lap was only marginally slower than the main race.
Scott McDonald proved too good for the field to claim the win, while Taro Malcolm took out the C-Grade race.
