The final day of the Mount Gambier Cycling Club’s massive weekend showcased the ninth race of the Kidman Law Co Spring/Summer series.

As the day dawned, 20 riders awoke to a glorious morning and looked forward to the 25km race on the familiar Caves Road course and especially seeing the AusCycling coach, Tim Decker, in action.

With some Junior riders involved in the training weekend it was decided not to hold an U11/13 race, so the Senior riders lined up a little earlier.

The first group to leave consisted of Jason Buckland, Jen Buckland and Damian Buckley, who took advantage of the tailwind.

The final group consisting of Decker, Nick Kidman, Dave Bryant and Matthew Opperman were given the order to charge after 14 minutes had elapsed on the clock.

The younger riders involved in the track training weekend were feeling the effects of their efforts over the previous couple of days and found it difficult to hold on to their respective bunches, battling as hard as they could all the way.

Some of the bunches had merged on the tailwind journey towards the turnaround point, but the leading group of three had managed to hold on to an advantage for the return leg.

All riders shared the load on the way back into a headwind that only lessened in effect once the riders had turned into the finishing straight, about 4km from the finish.

The limit riders were managing to ride above their anticipated average speed, but could sense the groups behind edging closer to them and were caught with less than 2km to go.

In the final sprint to the line Bryant managed to finish just ahead of Nick Kidman and Matthew Opperman.

They were followed closely behind by Madalene Cleary, Rob Mann, Elmer Buckland, Bruce McLaughlin, John Cranwell, Mike Bakker, Paul Brooker, Jen Buckland and Decker rounding out the top 12.

A barbecue was held at the clubrooms after the race, before the Sunday track training session got under way.

Next weekend the riders will venture out to Attamurra Road for another 25km race.