At the last club meeting, the 2010 calendar was finalised. The year should see plenty of opportunity for exciting racing, with at least 27 club road events during the Road Season, as well as the North Queensland Games (early April), and the new look Tour de Tablelands (Queen’s Birthday weekend).

The first cycle will be a Yarrabah course variant, followed by a trip to Mareeba, a Green Hill race, and a Woree criterium. The second cycle sees the local race swapped for a race on the Malanda circuit, followed by a break for Easter. The NQ Games will see racing for both road and track on the weekend of 10 and 11 April, with a Woree criterium the following Sunday.

The Copperlode Cup (25 April) will be the first race of the next cycle. The weekend following this is the May Day weekend. With the Tour de Tablelands now moved to the Queen’s Birthday weekend to avoid a clash with the “Battle on the Border”, the question of what to do with this weekend was raised. At this stage this is still being discussed, and details will be provided at a later date. The following weekend will see a Yarrabah variant, with the distance being cranked up in the run up to the Tour.  This will be followed by a Woree crit.

The next cycle sees the local race again swapped for a trip to the Tablelands for more Tour preparation, then Craiglie-Julatten (30 May), and the Club Time Trial Championships (6 June).

The Tour de Tablelands will follow on 12, 13 and 14 June, and will see some significant changes. While D grade will stay around the same level of difficulty, the other grades will be progressively toughened, with A Grade being a lot harder than the past. We are working on some changed courses, and trying to negotiate road closures for the 2010 event. To our knowledge, the 2009 event was the largest stage race in the state last year, and the 2010 event should be a beauty.

To help break through the post Tour lethargy, the next event will at Aloomba, to be followed by the first handicap race of the year at Mareeba (27 June). This would be followed by a Yarrabah variant, and a Woree crit.

The next cycle will see an Aloomba race, followed by a trip to Mossman on the Show weekend. The James Grant Memorial Handicap followson 1 August, with a Woree criterium the following week.

The third and last handicap of the year happens on 15 August, with the Battle of Long Tan Memorial Handicap. The following weekend is a big one, with the Pyramid Criterium on the Saturday, and a Bramston Beach road race on Sunday.

This would be followed by a weekend off so as to avoid a clash with the RRR. The next weekend sees the last Woree criteium, which will be the Club Criterium Championships (5 September). On 12 September the Club Road Championships will be held on a Yarrabah variant, followed by a Mossman race the next week. As has been the case over recent years, the last race of the road season will be the Copperlode Challenge (26 September).

This makes for a full road season stretching from February to September, with a variety of racing.

In addition there is also the opportunity to travel to other North Queensland club events such as Mackay’s Rodger Memorial Handicap & O’Meara Family Shield (22 and 23 May), and Townsville’s Goldfields to Paradise (8 August). You may also want to consider going to events further south such as the biggest on the State Calendar, the “Battle on the Border” to be held over the May weekend.

Click here to view the Road Calendar