The very first Sandy Memorial run at Newbridge today was a roaring success, with Alan Jnr in attendance and a bumper field of 31 lining up for the 56 km trek over Mt Moliagul, via Moliagul and Rheola. Weather was perfect as well. Two scratch riders had a huge task to chase down five in second scratch and bigger groups further up the road. The four front groups disintegrated in the first half of the race due to punctures, mechanicals and lots of climbing, and surprisingly the 14 minute bunch was in the lead with 20 km to go, only Di Jane managing to hang on. The sevens were four minutes in arrears with the 1 1/2 and four minute groups a minute further back and still a minute clear of scratch. You would have put your house on the leaders being caught on the run back to Newbridge after the three chasing groups came together, but they rode out of their skins and hit the home straight minutes in the clear. John Weir (14 min) turned the clock back decades to win convincingly from Cheryle Barker (14 min), Gary Ford (14 min), Andrew Berry (14 min) and Di Jane (23 min). Chris Landvogt (1 1/2 min) led the chasers home to run 6th and record fastest time after the scratch riders lost out to the weight of numbers in the end. Terry Schintler (7 min) was 7th, followed by Alan Pye (4 min), Carl Harris (4 min) and Geoff Bennett (4 min). At the presentations Alan Jnr spoke of his father's love of racing and he recognised the quality of the field and racing as a tribute to Sandy, thoughts echoed and endorsed by Club President Brett Williams. All up, a great day.