24 little hours indeed…but it was a race weekend of contrasting weather and therefore participants at the Anderson Mayors Cup. Saturday was a great day for racing, overcast 60F and organisers Steve Goar and Dan Daly were repaid for their hard work with some 250riders in all events. Largest fied of the day was in the Cat. 3 race which had approx 60 starters including messrs Parry and Parrish. The course profile and a strong wind keep the race pretty much together throughout our 55-mile event and in the uphill sprint both tortugans finished within the Top 20. Our most notables performance was a 5th in the Cat. 5 event for Pat Garner. The large number of racers was exemplified by the womens which had over 25 riders- unheard off for a local Midwestern event! In the 1-2-3 race the TxRdhse got back to winning ways with a 1-2 from Mike House and the POD. Bob and Vic were frustrated to miss the break of 10 riders that established itself on about half distance but said that they worked hard in the bunch for a good workout. It was a similar story for Gary Palmer in the 40+ event.
Then we did a TT and it rained…
…and it didn’t stop raining until sunday evening by which time the Anderson U. crits had finished with unsurpisingly small fields. A 1/2 field of 11 riders with 5 TxRdHse could only have one outcome but I think Tolson et al will have been disappointed only to finish 1-2-3-6! Pat and I were the only tortugans present and whilst I was held up behind a last corner wreck to finish 14th, Pat took the bull by the horns and attacked the Cat. 5 field, eventually finishing solo in 2nd place. A great result for Pat who is just this week turning 15.
All in all the AMC is a marvellously organised race with fanastic police co-operation for the RR and a challenging but safe crit course. However Steve Goar, unlike Dan Daly, has yet to sell his soul to the weather gods and the crit has been decimated by unfavourable conditions for two consectutive years. Lets hope for better luck next year to give this race the participation it deserves.