On a cool but relatively calm (by Wellington standards) morning, 55 riders  assembled at the Chocolate Fish Café for another OTB Team Time Trial (TTT). With a 26km course, around the Miramar Peninsula to the roundabout at the Lyall Bay Warehouse and back, team work was going to be essential (as team times were taken on the fifth rider over the finish line). We had 10 teams from Choosens , SANZ,  Mad Keen Cyclist and the OTB's.  Check out the photo Gallery click here

Following a comprehensive safety briefing to the new OTB Event Safety Management Plan, and a sign on worthy of the Giro, the teams set out at 3 minute intervals with the slower teams first.

A slight northerly made for good times on the outward leg but left that, “what if the wind comes up?” feeling for the return leg. Fortunately whilst a breeze did spring up it was relatively light. With a three neutral zones fair play was also an important element and it was pleasing to see all the teams respecting the requirement to self-manage.

Finishing was fast and furious and for those teams who had stayed together now was the time to make that important tactical decision, can we afford to drop someone. Then it was into the cafe to top up the carbohydrates, embark on the post ride analysis and announce a few impromptu awards. 

Fastest time went to Team 10 (Steve Orchard, Ric Van Weede, and Glenn Owen) in 39:30 with Team 9 (Derek Young, James Barnsley, Steve Strain, Brett Grant, and Mike Revell) in 41:47 being the first to get the required 5 riders home for true honours. More results click here. 

Thanks to our organiser Andrew Sander and his assistants Carol Sander and Philip Orchard and thanks to Frank Geoghegan for all the work on developing the new Safety Management Plan and organising the teams’ lists and sign ons.

The impromptu awards included:

• The Oprah Winfrey Fashion Award                - Team 5, Team Green Machine’s perfectly matching riding gear.
• The Simon Bridges Road Safety Award         - Team 8, Cycle Fork & Hard’s well executed single file roundabout line up.
• The Paula Bennett Fair Play Award               – Team 3, Gone Girls for allowing Gillian Bruce to stay connected to the group, not!
• The Hekia Parata Mathematics Study Award  – Team 10, We Can’t Count for not knowing the difference between 3 and 5 when it came to counting riders.