GEELONG South resident Leigh Burchell claimed a surprise victory in the Ross Bush Memorial Handicap held at Sutherlands Creek on Saturday.
Riders from Footscray, Geelong, Colac and Ballarat cycling clubs competed in warm, sunny conditions and a feisty 50 km/h north-westerly wind.
The annual race is held in honour of the late Ross Bush, a well respected and accomplished Geelong club rider whose life was tragically cut short while training in 1998 by a drug-affected motorist.
Geelong’s Sutherlands Creek circuit is known as one of the toughest circuits around, with every form of challenge you could ask for – rapid descents, slow grinds into the fierce wind, torturous climbs and astounding descents up and down the steep hills of Pringles.
With such strong winds most thought that the gun riders of scratch would catch all before them and win easily, but two determined riders in second limit surprised everyone by holding off a strong field of determined chasers.
Leigh Burchell, 32, in only his second road race, did not rate himself a chance on the day.
“I just came out to get some race practise; I really didn’t give myself any chance at all of winning. It was a very, very tough day, what with the unbelievable wind, my heart rate was so high I didn’t think I’d last to the end.”
With his heart rate bouncing off the limiter and his bunch in distress, the Geelong South resident hoped someone would keep going and work with him into the fierce headwind.
“Our bunch started to break up and Matt Pope and I just worked really well together and pushed on as hard as we could.”
The pair co-operated and gave each other the support and rest needed to make headway in such windy conditions.
“We could see a bunch coming as we started the last climb before the run home, and I picked up the pace and buried myself until I got to the top of the hill.
“I was getting cramps for the last 5km but when you get a sniff of a possible win you tend to be able to ignore the pain.
“In the last couple of k’s Matt lost my wheel and I finished 20 seconds clear of him.”
Behind Burchell were riders from many different bunches all vying for the line, Pope being followed in by Greg Hoskins, Bill Murray and Paul Sheean, with Geelong resident and gun rider Lachlan Doak taking the honours of fastest time.
Later, and still in shock, Burchell spoke about his evolution on the bike
“I’ve come from a BMX background as a kid and then raced cross-country mountain bikes and have used the road bike as extra training, and I just thought ‘Why not try a road race?’ as well, so I joined Geelong.”
